Yarbrough v. Celebrezze

217 F. Supp. 943, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6959
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedMay 22, 1963
DocketNo. C-134-R-62
StatusPublished

This text of 217 F. Supp. 943 (Yarbrough v. Celebrezze) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yarbrough v. Celebrezze, 217 F. Supp. 943, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6959 (M.D.N.C. 1963).

Opinion

EDWIN M. STANLEY, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff seeks judicial review, pursuant to the provisions of 42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g), of the final decision of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, holding that the plaintiff is not the widow of Thomas J. Yarbrough, deceased wage earner, and thus not entitled to survivor’s insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(g) on her own behalf, and that Jesse Ray Holder is not the child of the deceased wage earner, and thus not entitled to child’s insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(d).

Both plaintiff and defendant have moved for summary judgment pursuant to the provisions of Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. For the reasons hereinafter stated, it is found that the determination of the Secretary is supported by substantial evidence and that the motion of the defendant for summary judgment should be allowed.

The plaintiff and Thomas J. Yarbrough, hereinafter referred to as “the wage earner,” were ceremonially married on July 31, 1943, in Bennettsville, South Carolina, at which time the wage earner was on active duty with the Army of the United States, stationed at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. The wage earner was inducted into service on September 30, 1942, and was discharged on October 21,1943. After his discharge from the army, the plaintiff and the wage earner moved to Gunnison, Mississippi, where they resided throughout the intervening years until they separated in 1950. Sometime after their separation, the wage earner brought a divorce action against the plaintiff in Bolivar County, Mississippi. On September 13, 1950, the divorce action, as well as a cross-complaint filed by the plaintiff, was dismissed with the consent of each of the parties by reason of an alleged reconciliation. On the same date, September 13, 1950, Billie Ruth Kinkennon obtained an absolute divorce from James Perry Kinkennon. Thereafter, on December 18, 1950, the wage earner entered into a ceremonial marriage with Billie Ruth Kinkennon, hereinafter referred to as “Billie Ruth,” in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with whom he lived until the time of his death on March 3, 1956. Two children, Nellie Yarbrough and Thomas J. Yarbrough, Jr., were born to the wage earner and Billie Ruth. Both children were born in the State of Mississippi, on June 24, 1951, and January 1, 1954, respectively. Ruthie Mae Kinkennon, born December 21, 1946, Billie Ruth’s child by her former marriage, lived with Billie Ruth and the wage earner during their marriage.

On January 19, 1952, the plaintiff entered into a marriage ceremony with Curtis Holder in Gunnison, Mississippi. Thereafter, on April 30, 1953, Jesse Ray Holder was born in Richmond County, North Carolina. While said child was conceived and born subsequent to her marriage to Curtis Holder, and the birth record indicates that Curtis Holder is the father of the child, the plaintiff nevertheless contends that the wage earner was the child’s biological father.

The wage earner died fully insured on March 3, 1956, domiciled in the State [945]*945of Mississippi. On March 9, 1956, Billie Ruth filed an application with the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivor’s Insurance for mother’s insurance benefits on her own behalf, and on behalf of Ruthie Mae Kinkennon, Nellie Yarbrough, and Thomas J. Yarbrough, Jr., for children’s insurance benefits, based on the wage earner’s account. The Bureau determined that Billie Ruth was entitled to mother’s insurance benefits, and that Ruthie, Nellie, and Thomas, Jr., were entitled to children’s insurance benefits, effective March, 1956. Information subsequently received by the Bureau indicated that a previous marriage of the wage earner had not been legally dissolved before he married Billie Ruth, resulting in benefits to Billie Ruth and her children being suspended in August, 1956. Based on additional developments, it was determined by the Bureau that the marriage of the wage earner to Billie Ruth was void and bigamous, and benefit payments to the beneficiaries were terminated. On September 26, 1957, Billie Ruth filed a request for a hearing before a hearing examiner of the Social Security Administration. On May 14, 1958, the Hearing Examiner, Garland E. Taylor, issued his decision, finding that the marriage of the wage earner and Billie Ruth was a valid marriage and that Billie Ruth and her three minor children were entitled to the insurance benefits claimed.

On July 19, 1958, the plaintiff filed an application with the Bureau for mother’s insurance benefits on her own behalf and on behalf of Jesse Ray Holder for child’s insurance benefits, based on the wage earner’s account. The Bureau determined that a valid marriage did not exist between the plaintiff and the wage earner when he died, and that the plaintiff and the wage earner were not validly married at the time Jesse Ray Holder was conceived. It was concluded, therefore, that plaintiff and her child did not meet the required relationship to the wage earner to establish an entitlement to benefits. On reconsideration, the Bureau affirmed its prior determination. The plaintiff thereafter filed a request for a hearing before a hearing examiner. On February 15, 1960, the Hearing Examiner, Ben D. Worcester, issued his decision in which he found that the marriage between the plaintiff and the wage earner continued until the death of the wage earner; that the child, Jesse Ray Holder, was born during wedlock; that the plaintiff was entitled to child’s insurance benefits on behalf of her minor child; and, by inference, that the plaintiff was entitled to mother’s insurance benefits. Since the recommended decision of Hearing Examiner Worcester was in conflict with the earlier decision of Hearing Examiner Taylor, the case was certified to the Appeals Council for final decision, pursuant to the regulations of the Social Security Administration. On February 23, 1960, Billie Ruth filed a request for review by the Appeals Council of the decision of Hearing Examiner Worcester.

The Appeals Council, on May 7, 1962, rendered its decision, holding that, on the basis of the entire record, the plaintiff was not entitled to survivor’s insurance benefits on her own behalf, or on behalf of her child, Jesse R. Holder, and that Billie Ruth was entitled to mother’s insurance benefits from March, 1956, to November, 1956, the month before the month in which she remarried, and that Ruthie Kinkennon and Nellie and Thomas Yarbrough, Jr., were entitled to children’s benefits, beginning with March, 1956. This action followed.

Under the jurisdictional statute, 42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g), the findings of the Secretary, if supported by substantial evidence, are conclusive, and such conclusiveness extends to inference drawn from the evidence. Underwood v. Ribicoff, 4 Cir., 298 F.2d 850 (1962); Bradey v. Ribicoff, 4 Cir., 298 F.2d 855 (1962); Allison v. Ribicoff, 4 Cir., 307 F.2d 379 (1962), and Adams v. Flemming, 2 Cir., 276 F.2d 901 (1960). Substantial evidence means “enough [evidence] to justify, if the trial were to a jury, a refusal to direct a verdict when [946]*946the conclusion sought to be drawn from it is one of fact for the jury.” National Labor Relations Board v.

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Bluebook (online)
217 F. Supp. 943, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yarbrough-v-celebrezze-ncmd-1963.