Hyleman v. Heckler

719 F. Supp. 437, 1985 WL 24431
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. North Carolina
DecidedJune 21, 1985
DocketNo. C-C-84-470-M
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 719 F. Supp. 437 (Hyleman v. Heckler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hyleman v. Heckler, 719 F. Supp. 437, 1985 WL 24431 (W.D.N.C. 1985).

Opinion

ORDER

McMILLAN, District Judge.

On February 24, 1983, plaintiff Lois F. Hyleman applied for child’s insurance benefits on behalf of her son, John M. Hyleman, alleging that he was the posthumous son of John M. Leatherman, who died fully insured on December 8, 1979, more than three months before John M. Hyleman’s birth.

After initial administrative denials of the claim, a hearing was held by an administrative law judge (AU) on November 28,1983, at which Lois Hyleman and two friends, Robert and Deborah Dixon, testified. The AU issued a decision on December 15, 1983, in which he found that John M. Hyleman is not the “child” of John M. Leather-man for purposes of satisfying the requirements of the Social Security Act and is not, therefore, eligible for child’s insurance benefits. Review of that decision was denied by the Appeals Council on April 23, 1984.

Plaintiff thereafter filed this timely complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for review of the Secretary’s decision. Both parties have filed motions for summary judgment. The Secretary’s decision must be affirmed if supported by substantial evidence.

The Social Security Act provides for a monthly payment to certain designated classes of survivors on the death of an insured individual with the required insured status. One class of survivors is a child of such an insured individual who is less than eighteen years old (or less than twenty-two years old in certain circumstances), and who was dependent on the insured individual at the time of the insured individual’s death. 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1). A child is deemed dependent upon the parent (his father, in this case) at the time of the parent’s death unless, at that time, the child was neither the legitimate nor the adopted child of the parent, and the parent was not living with or contributing to the support of the child. 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(3). A child is also deemed to be the legitimate child of the insured individual as required by § 402(d)(3), even if not meeting the specific requirements of the section, if the child is deemed to be a child of the insured individual pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(2)(B) or (h)(3).

The parties agree that the only relevant provision under which plaintiff might be entitled to prove her son’s eligibility for child’s insurance benefits is found at 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(3)(C)(ii):

[An applicant shall be deemed to be the child of the insured individual if in the case of a deceased individual,] such insured individual is shown by evidence satisfactory to the Secretary to have been the mother or father of the applicant, and such insured individual was living with or contributing to the support of the applicant at the time such insured individual died.

In his decision, the AU assumed “arguendo” that the testimony of Ms. Hyleman and her friends that John M. Leatherman was [439]*439the father of the child was true and that John M. Leatherman had acknowledged the unborn child, John M. Hyleman, to be his child. At a hearing before this court on this matter on June 6, 1985, the Assistant United States Attorney stated that the Secretary did not contend that John M. Leatherman was not the child’s biological father. Upon a review of the record, the court finds that there is substantial evidence to support the Secretary’s conclusion that the insured individual has been shown by “evidence satisfactory to the Secretary to have been the ... father of the applicant.”

In order to be deemed the child of the insured individual for the purpose of receiving benefits, however, the applicant must also show that John Leatherman “was living with or contributing to the support of the applicant at the time ... [he] died.”

Ms. Hyleman has stated under oath that John Leatherman was not contributing to her or the unborn child’s support at the time of his death and she does not raise that provision in this action. Therefore, the issue upon which the court must focus, as did the ALT, is whether the child was “living with” Mr. Leatherman at the time of Mr. Leatherman’s death within the meaning of the Social Security Act.

The Secretary’s own guidelines and the case law establish that if the child in question (the applicant) was in útero at the time of the insured individual’s death and is born alive, the “living with ... the applicant at the time” of death requirement is fulfilled if the insured individual had been “living with” the mother of the in útero child at the time of the insured individual’s death. Social Security Ruling 68-49; Wagner v. Finch, 413 F.2d 267 (5th Cir.1969).

The purpose of the sections of the Social Security Act involved in this case is “to provide support to children who have lost either the actual support of an insured parent or the anticipated support which that parent would have been expected to give to have his death not intervened.” Adams v. Weinberger, 521 F.2d 656, 659 (2nd Cir.1975), citing to Jimenez v. Weinberger, 417 U.S. 628, 94 S.Ct. 2496, 41 L.Ed.2d 363 (1974). Where the child shows to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the father was insured and that the insured individual was indeed the child’s father, “the role § 416(h)(3)(C)(ii) plays in screening spurious paternity claims need not detain us.” Only the issue of “dependency” or anticipated “dependency” is important. Evelyn M. Parsons, for Charles I. Bryant, Jr., infant, v. Health and Human Services, 762 F.2d 1188, 1190 (4th Cir.1985).

Because the Social Security Act is remedial and has humanitarian aims, it is necessary that it be construed broadly. Therefore, courts that have interpreted the “contributing to the support of" provision of 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(3), have held that the support requirement is not a fixed rule but one which “must be evaluated in light of the father and child’s actual circumstances.” Parker v. Schweiker, 673 F.2d 160, 163 (6th Cir.1982); Parsons v. HHS, supra, at 1191; Doran v. Schweiker, 681 F.2d 605 (9th Cir.1982); Adams v. Weinberger, 521 F.2d 656 (2nd Cir.1975).

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Bluebook (online)
719 F. Supp. 437, 1985 WL 24431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hyleman-v-heckler-ncwd-1985.