When state governments violate the law through unconstitutional and predatory practices, our most vulnerable communities are often the ones to suffer. The National Center for Law and Economic Justice fights back against legal abuses to help give power back to marginalized people.
I’m especially proud of a recent case in Kentucky, in collaboration with an incredible team of local advocates. In 2020, we sued University of Kentucky Healthcare and the Kentucky Department of Revenue over their unconstitutional debt collection scheme that preyed on low-income people.
University of Kentucky Healthcare referred debts to the Department of Revenue which had sweeping powers to collect debts without giving patients the chance to appeal their bills and without the need for a court order. They did this in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the US constitution, which guarantee the right to due process, and between 2009 to 2020 collected $76 million from patients through this unlawful scheme.
In response to our lawsuit, the Department of Revenue voluntarily ended their debt collection arrangement with University of Kentucky Healthcare – effectively conceding that they would lose the lawsuit if it were allowed to proceed.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice advances racial and economic justice through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing. We have provided legal representation and support since 1965.
