Published June, 2004

Hull v. Barnhart, 336 F. Supp. 2d 1113 (D. Or. 2004)

Under the Social Security Act, the fleeing felon provision on which the Social Security Administration (SSA) relies to terminate benefits applies only if a person intends to flee from prosecution, not if a warrant exists but was unknown to the person at the time s/he left the jurisdiction. Contrary to SSA’s argument that a person with an outstanding warrant is a fleeing felon under the statute until the warrant is resolved, the statute and applicable regulations require a court finding that the person is in fact fleeing prosecution.