The family of Joyce Evans, a Maryland woman who was mistakenly declared dead by the Social Security Administration in December 2023, has filed a lawsuit against the federal agency. Evans, who worked for the Small Business Administration for many years, suffered a sequence of financial and medical setbacks following the SSA's error, which misreported her death and led to her pension payments being stopped, insurance and banking access being cut off, and other government assistance being severed. Her family claims the resulting stress and limited access to necessary care contributed to her health deteriorating significantly, as reported by FOX Baltimore .

Although acknowledged the mistake a month later by the Social Security Administration, their efforts were not enough to prevent an approaching foreclosure on Evans's home. Moreover, her medical insurance was stopped, which left her without access to crucial medications. According to WBAL-TV , Evans faced these troubles head-on, stating in an interview three months after the incident, "I'm definitely going to get a lawyer. I don't think this is right. I think they need to straighten up their system," she told 11 News Investigates in March 2024. However, she passed away in July 2024 before seeing the issue finally resolved.

The lawsuit claims that SSA mistakenly adds over 10,000 people to its "Death Master File" each year over seven years, terminating their benefit payments. To make amends for the hardships caused by their error, the lawsuit seeks class-action status to allow other victims to join, as detailed by WMAR-2 News . Jim Francis, attorney for the Evans family, commented on the systemic problem, as reported by WBAL-TV : "If SSA were to just require a death certificate before reporting this out, it would solve the problem overnight, and there'd be zero errors."