State Court Petitions

If an administrative law judge denies your IHSS appeal, you can seek court review of the agency decision by filing a writ petition (also known as a writ of administrative mandate) against the California Department of Social Services (“CDSS”) in Superior Court. The goal of IHSS writ petitions is to convince the court to set aside the administrative law judge’s decision. Keep in mind that you have one year from the date of the decision to seek state court review.

You can file a writ petition if you think CDSS did not provide you with a fair hearing, that there was a prejudicial abuse of discretion, or other errors. Abuse of discretion means that the administrative law judge did not proceed in a manner required by law, the decision was not supported by the findings, or the findings were not supported by the evidence.

There are three possible outcomes of your writ petition:

1. The court agrees with CDSS and denies your writ petition.
2. The court agrees with you that the administrative law judge made a prejudicial error, and the court grants you protective supervision and/or other supportive services.
3. The court agrees with you that the administrative law judge made a prejudicial error, and sends (remands) the case back to CDSS for a rehearing and/or to issue a new decision.