546 F.2d 477 (2nd Cir. 1976), 178, Goldberg v. Weinberger
| Citation | 546 F.2d 477 |
| Party Name | Lillian GOLDBERG, Appellant, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellee. |
| Case Date | December 01, 1976 |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals, U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
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Argued Oct. 19, 1976.
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David S. Preminger, New York City, and John C. Gray, Jr., New York City, for appellant.
David C. Trager, U.S. Atty., New York City (Josephine Y. King and Richard P. Caro, Asst. U.S. Attys., Brooklyn, N.Y., of counsel), for appellee.
Before HAYS, ANDERSON and GURFEIN, Circuit Judges.
HAYS, Circuit Judge:
Prior to July, 1972, plaintiff-appellant Lillian Goldberg had been receiving widow's disability benefits pursuant to section 202(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 402(e)(1)(B)(ii) (1970 ed.) ("the Act"). 1 On May 21, 1972, about two months before her sixtieth birthday, plaintiff remarried, thereby disqualifying herself from receiving any more widow's disability insurance
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benefits or widow's insurance benefits under the Act. 2 Accordingly, in July of 1972 plaintiff's benefits were terminated by the Social Security Administration, which affirmed its decision in a Reconsideration Determination dated November 7, 1972. This decision was upheld, in turn, by an Administrative Law Judge and the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration. On review in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Judge Platt sustained the Secretary's decision, and granted the government's motion for summary judgment.
Plaintiff now appeals to this court, attacking the decision of the district court on two grounds: First, she claims that as a result of information given her by her local Social Security office prior to her remarriage, to the effect that marriage would reduce but not eliminate the benefits, the government is estopped from finding her ineligible for benefits. Second, and in the alternative, she argues that the relevant statutory provisions arbitrarily discriminate on the basis of marital status and age, in violation of the equal protection and due process clauses. Because we find both of these contentions to be without merit, we affirm the district court's decision.
I.
The Social Security Act, insofar as it is relevant to this controversy, provides as follows: section 202(e)(1) grants benefits to widows who are (A) unmarried, and (B) either (i) over the age of 60 or (ii) over the age of 50 and disabled. See 42 U.S.C. § 402(e)(1) (1970 ed.), note 1, supra. Section 202(e) (4) provides that if a widow remarries after attaining the age of 60, the marriage will be disregarded, except that her benefits will be reduced. See 42 U.S.C. § 402(e)(4) (1970 ed.), note 2, supra. A widow who remarries before attaining the age of 60, however, is simply no longer "not married" within the meaning of section 202(e)(1)(A). Thus, if a disabled widow remarries before she reaches 60, her benefits are terminated because she does not satisfy the requirements of either 202(e)(1) or 202(e)(4); if the disabled widow waits until after she is 60 to remarry, she continues to receive reduced benefits.
Plaintiff attacks this statutory scheme on the ground that it deprives her of her rights to due process and equal protection of the law by impermissibly discriminating on the basis of marital status and age. 3 We disagree.
The Act admittedly draws a sharp line between widows who remarry before age 60 and those who wait until after their sixtieth birthday to remarry. Nevertheless, we cannot overturn this classification unless we
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find that it bears no rational relationship to a valid congressional purpose. 4
Originally, the Act provided that a widow who remarried was disqualified from receiving any insurance benefits. In 1965 Congress added section 202(e)(4), providing for a reduction rather than a total elimination of benefits to widows remarrying over the age of 60. Act of July 30, 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-97, § 333(a), 79 Stat. 286, 403-04. Congress could have decided to extend reduced benefits to widows who remarry at any age, but it chose to draw the line at age 60.
As the district court reasoned, Congress may well have concluded that a widow who remarries during her 50's is more likely to marry a man having several years earning capacity than is a widow 60 or older. Alternatively, Congress may have decided that practical considerations of administration require that there be an objective, somewhat arbitrary criterion for determining benefit eligibility. See, e.g., Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495, 96 S.Ct. 2755, 2764-67, 49 L.Ed.2d 651 (1976); Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 781-85, 95 S.Ct. 2457, 45 L.Ed.2d 522 (1975); Dandridge v. Williams,397 U.S. 471, 485, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970). In either case, we cannot say that Congress acted unreasonably in denying benefits to widows who remarry before reaching 60 years of age.
We hold that the Act does not discriminate among benefit claimants on the basis of criteria which bear no rational relationship to a legitimate congressional purpose. It follows that plaintiff's constitutional argument is without merit.
II.
Plaintiff also argues that the government is estopped from terminating her benefits because of a misrepresentation by a local Social Security office employee, to the effect that remarriage before attaining age 60 would reduce but not terminate her benefits.
The government does not dispute plaintiff's claim that she received misinformation and relied on it to her detriment. Rather, the government argues that plaintiff may not invoke the doctrine of estoppel in this case.
It is well established that "estoppel cannot be set up against the Government on
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the basis of an unauthorized representation or act of an officer or employee who is without authority in his...
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