Morgan v. Heckler

• Decision Date: 27 December 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85-1854,85-1854
• Citation: 779 F.2d 544
• Parties: , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 16,559 Annie MORGAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 544

779 F.2d 544

12 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 63, Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 16,559

Annie MORGAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of Health and Human Services Defendant-Appellee.

No. 85-1854.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Dec. 9, 1985.

Decided Dec. 27, 1985.

Bruce A. Feder, Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Inc., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.

Jerry J. Bassett, Gregg A. Frampton, Asst. Reg. Attys., Dept. of Health & Human Services, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Before WRIGHT, KENNEDY, and BEEZER, Circuit Judges.

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge:

The Secretary of Health and Human Services denied the claim of Ms. Annie Morgan for retirement benefits, and she appeals. Morgan contends she relied on misinformation from the government, given in circumstances that amount to affirmative misconduct, and that the government is estopped to withhold the benefits. The district court granted summary judgment for the Secretary, and we now affirm.

Morgan has been employed since 1959 by the San Francisco Unified School District in a position not covered by the Social Security Act. On August 12, 1980, Morgan, then 63, visited a San Francisco office of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to inquire as to the amount of retirement benefits she would receive beginning in February 1982, when she would reach age 65. In response to her inquiry, a field representative handed her the following notice, styled "Social Security Estimate of Benefits":

We are pleased to tell you that, according to our records and the date of birth you gave, your monthly payment will be about $159.50 beginning with the month of Feb. 17, 1982.

We have estimated your benefit based on the earnings now shown on our records. Any social security earnings not yet recorded could, of course, increase the amount. We can tell you the exact amount and begin payments only after you apply for them.

The Estimate of Benefits notice is a standard form; the date and amount were inserted by the field representative. The entire interview took about ten minutes.

In November 1980, Morgan applied for Medicare. On January 25, 1982, SSA notified her that she was not eligible for premium-free hospital insurance because she did not have enough quarters of covered employment. On February 2, 1982, she again applied for hospital benefits as well as retirement insurance, and on March 8, 1982, she was notified by the SSA that "[n]either monthly benefits nor premium-free hospital insurance benefits are payable on your record because you have not worked long enough under Social Security." It is not disputed that Morgan needed twenty-eight quarters of covered employment to qualify for both programs. All concede, moreover, that both now and when she made her inquiry in 1982 she had but twenty-two covered quarters.

Morgan contends that the written information she received in 1982 was incorrect, and further that she relied upon it in not obtaining part-time work in addition to her duties with the school district, work which would have permitted her to accumulate the six additional quarters of covered employment requisite to eligibility. It is far from clear that the reliance she claims would be sufficient to establish traditional estoppel, but we need not reach the point as we conclude that no affirmative misconduct occurred.

The general requirements for estoppel of a private party are neither conclusive nor exhaustive when one seeks to bind the government. Heckler v. Community Health Services, 467 U.S. 51, 104 S.Ct. 2218, 2224, 81 L.Ed.2d 42 (1984). Beyond the four traditional elements of estoppel, see, e.g., United States v. Georgia-Pacific Co., 421 F.2d 92, 96 (9th Cir.1970), estoppel against the government must rest upon affirmative misconduct going beyond mere negligence, Simon v. Califano, 593 F.2d 121, 123 (9th Cir.1979) (per curiam). Furthermore, estoppel will apply only where the government's wrongful act will cause a serious injustice, and the public's interest will not suffer undue damage by imposition of the liability. Id.; United States v. Lazy FC Ranch, 481 F.2d 985, 989 (9th Cir.1973).

Affirmative misconduct has not been demonstrated here. As the administrative law judge...