The Court has Ordered the USS to Compensate the PRWB Beneficiary for Material Damage Caused by Unlawful Administrative Action

The beneficiary of Nina Hakobyan, a lawyer at the Protection of Rights Without Borders (PRWB) NGO, previously held “disabled child” status and received the corresponding benefit. Following a re-examination conducted after the beneficiary turned eighteen in 2021, the beneficiary was not recognized as a person with a disability, thereby losing eligibility for the benefit.

In a judgment dated April 18, 2023, issued in response to a lawsuit filed by PRWB, the RA Administrative Court ordered the Unified Social Service (USS) to assign the beneficiary a Group III disability status, effective May 21, 2021. While enforcement of the judgment resulted in the resumption of benefit payments, the issue of compensation for the amounts not received during the preceding period remained unresolved. The USS refused to compensate the amounts corresponding to the earlier period, citing the statutory one-year time limit applicable to unpaid benefit payments.

PRWB, however, submitted a claim for compensation for material damage caused by unlawful administrative action, arguing that the loss resulted from the benefit payments the beneficiary would have received had the administrative body issued a lawful decision from the outset.

In a judgment dated September 25, 2024, the RA Administrative Court granted the claim, declaring the USS’s refusal invalid and ordering the Service to issue a decision awarding AMD 692,800 in compensation for material damage.

The USS appealed the judgment. On June 22, 2026, the Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the appeal and upheld the judgment, confirming the existence of unlawful administrative action, material damage, and a direct causal link between them.

On September 2, 2026, the Court of Cassation refused to admit the USS’s cassation appeal for examination. The judicial act issued in the beneficiary’s favor therefore remains in force.