McBride v. Commissioner
- Edward Chen
- 3:25-cv-00666
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Patricia Ann McBride v. SSA Commissioner, Judge Edward M. Chen denied requested interim payments, granted faster briefing, and denied injunctive relief.
Patricia Ann McBride, the Social Security Administration, and the other defendants are affected: McBride did not obtain interim payments or injunctive relief, but the court ordered an expedited briefing schedule.
What happened
In Patricia Ann McBride v. SSA Commissioner, Patricia Ann McBride asked the court to require the Social Security Administration to start interim benefit payments and complete an expedited accounting of certain continuation payments.
The court recognized that stopping Supplemental Security Income payments during the appeal period could cause serious harm. The case had previously been dismissed for failure to complete administrative steps, and the court later ordered McBride to file an amended complaint after completing those steps. The court found that her July 2026 filing was a summary-judgment motion rather than an operative complaint.
Judge Edward M. Chen denied the requests for interim payments and payment accounting and denied McBride’s request for injunctive relief. The court granted the motion in part by ordering an expedited briefing schedule and required McBride to file an amended complaint by September 24, 2026.
The detailed version
- McBride v. Commissioner · No. 3:25-cv-00666
- Edward Chen
- Sept. 10, 2026
Background
Patricia Ann McBride filed an emergency motion asking for expedited action and injunctive relief. She asked the court to direct the Social Security Administration to begin interim benefit payments and complete an expedited accounting of Goldberg-Kelly continuation payments. The defendant opposed the motion, and McBride filed a reply.
The case had previously been dismissed without prejudice on July 15, 2025, for failure to exhaust administrative remedies under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). On July 7, 2026, the court ordered McBride to file an amended complaint after exhausting those remedies. McBride filed a document titled a “first amended complaint” on July 13, 2026. The court found that the document was written as a summary-judgment motion, so there was no operative complaint in the case. The court ordered her to file an amended complaint by September 24, 2026.
Court’s Analysis
The court applied the standard for injunctive relief, which requires a showing of a likely merits win, likely irreparable harm without relief, a favorable balance of equities, and consistency with the public interest. The court recognized a likelihood of irreparable harm from the cessation of Supplemental Security Income payments during the appeal period.
The court nevertheless found that McBride had not shown a likelihood of success on whether she was entitled to interim or continuation payments. The opinion states that judicial review of the administrative law judge’s ruling was limited to an overpayment issue, rather than termination of benefits based on excess resources. The court therefore denied the requested injunctive relief.
Disposition
The court granted McBride’s emergency motion in part as to an expedited briefing schedule and denied it in part as to directing the Social Security Administration to make interim benefit payments and complete the Goldberg-Kelly payment accounting. The court also denied the motion for injunctive relief. After McBride files the amended complaint, she may file an opening brief no later than October 24, 2026; the defendant’s response is due 14 days after that brief, and any reply is due seven days after the response.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.