David J. Jenkins, Venetta Gasper and Tommye Myers v. Washington State Department of Social & Health Services

All three plaintiffs in this case are functionally disabled individuals who receive paid in-home personal care services to help them with basic activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, shopping, housekeeping, and meal preparation. The three recipients challenged the shared living rule, which is one component of an assessment tool used by the Washington Department of Social and Health Services. This assessment tool, entitled Comprehensive Assessment Reporting Evaluation or CARE, is used to determine an individuals eligibility for in-home care under one of four programs.

The CARE evaluation scores an individual on a variety of factors, and the resulting numerical score is used in a formula to calculate the individual's base assistance level in hours of care. People receiving services in a group living setting were given 15% less hours of assistance because the in-home caregiver's time doing chores or grocery shopping was not able to be billed to a specific client although the activity benefited all in the house.

The lawsuit challenged the blanket 15% reduction in hours of care permitted. The justices ruled that the state may not cut hours of care in this fashion.