Finding Text
Finding 2023-003 – Case Requirements (Significant Deficiency and Non-compliance)
Information on the Federal Program: Legal Services Corporation Basic Field Grant, Disaster
Project Grant, Disaster Grant Incurred Cost, and Technology Grant - FAL # 9.601037
Criteria: 45 CFR Section 1620 requires recipients to establish priorities for the use of its LSC and
non-LSC resources. In addition, the recipient’s case files must support the priorities outlined in the
written plan. 45 CFR 1644 requires for each case filed in court by its attorneys on behalf of a recipient
client, recipients to disclose the name and address of each party in the case, cause of action, name
and address of the court where the case is filed, and the case number assigned by the court.
Condition/Context: During our testing of regulations, we examined 71 case files. Of the 71 case files
tested, one case was coded to a legal problem code that does not fall under the established priorities.
Of the 71 case files tested, two cases met the requirements for disclosure and one of those cases
was not properly disclosed to LSC.
Cause: The assigned attorney did not properly close the case resulting in inaccurate case data and
required case disclosure was omitted.
Effect: LSA is not in compliance with case requirements.
Questioned Costs: None reported
Recommendation: We recommend LSA strengthen its policies and procedures surrounding the
process of opening and closing case files to ensure compliance with all required documentation and
disclosure requirements.
Views of Responsible Officials: See Management’s View and Corrective Action Plan included at
the end of the report.