Broyles v. Califano

• Decision Date: 02 June 1980
• Docket Number: No. CIV-2-78-211.,CIV-2-78-211.
• Citation: 495 F. Supp. 4
• Parties: Kate BROYLES, Plaintiff, v. Joseph A. CALIFANO, Jr., etc., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

495 F. Supp. 4

Kate BROYLES, Plaintiff, v. Joseph A. CALIFANO, Jr., etc., Defendant.

No. CIV-2-78-211.

United States District Court, E. D. Tennessee, Northeastern Division.

June 26, 1979.

On Motion For Relief From Judgment June 2, 1980.

Carleton W. Smith and Jerry W. Laughlin, Greeneville, Tenn., for plaintiff.

John H. Cary, U. S. Atty. by Robert E. Simpson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Knoxville, Tenn., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NEESE, District Judge.

This is an action for the judicial review of the final decision of the defendant Secretary, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), denying the plaintiff's claim for disability health insurance benefits under the Social Security Act (Act). 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i), 423. The defendant moved for a judgment on the pleadings. Rule 12(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.^*

The plaintiff filed an application for such benefits on June 29, 1977, alleging that she first became unable to engage in substantial work on the previous June 10, because of high blood-pressure and sugar. That claim was denied initially and on reconsideration. An administrative law judge denied the application also on August 11, 1978 on the basis that the plaintiff did not meet the earnings requirement of the Act and was thus not entitled to benefits. This became the final decision of the defendant Secretary when an appeals council approved it.

The administrative law judge found, inter alia:

* * * * * *

2. The * * * plaintiff received credit for four quarters of coverage in the 1940s.

3. Statements by the plaintiff and Gordon Broyles about the alleged employment are highly inconsistent and, therefore, lack probative value.

4. A preponderance of the credible evidence of record has failed to establish that an employer-employee relationship existed between the plaintiff and Gorden Broyles during the period of May 1972 through June 10, 1977, or at any other time.

5. The evidence does not establish that the plaintiff should be credited with additional quarters of coverage.

6. For any 40-quarter period ending in or after the quarter in which she alleged the onset of disability (the quarter ending June 30, 1977), the plaintiff lacks the necessary 20 quarters of coverage to establish insured status for Social Security disability purposes.

7. The plaintiff does not have one quarter of coverage for each year after 1950 up to the year in which she alleges disability. Therefore, she is not fully insured.

8. The evidence does not establish that the plaintiff has the requisite insured status for entitlement to a period of disability or to disability insurance benefits.

9. Since * * * the plaintiff is not insured under the Act, it is unnecessary to make a determination on the question of disability.

* * * * * *

Such findings by the Secretary are conclusive if they are supported by substantial evidence in this record. Wokojance v. Weinberger, C.A. 6th (1975), 513 F.2d 210, 2123. This Court may only determine whether the Secretary's decision is based upon such evidence. LeMaster v. Weinberger, C.A. 6th (1976), 533 F.2d 337, 3391; Ingram v. Richardson, C.A. 6th (1972), 471 F.2d 1268, 12714. As has been stated:

* * * We have defined "substantial evidence" as "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. National Labor Relations Board 1938, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 216, 83 L.Ed. 126. "It must be enough to justify, if the trial were to a jury, a refusal to direct a verdict when the conclusion sought to be drawn from it is one of fact for the jury." National Labor Relations Board v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co., 1939 306 U.S. 292, 300, 59 S.Ct. 501, 505, 83 L.Ed. 660, 665. * * *

Consolo v. Federal Maritime Com. (1966), 383 U.S. 607, 619-620, 86 S.Ct. 1018, 2671, 16 L.Ed.2d 131, 140-1419.

The plaintiff is a 64-year old woman who completed, at most, the 3rd grade of school. Her Social Security Administration earnings records show that she received 4 quarters of coverage as follows: June, 1943, June and December, 1944, and March 1945. Although Mrs. Broyles had some additional earnings posted in other calendar quarters, she did not have the required $50 per quarter needed for her to be credited with a quarter of coverage. 42 U.S.C. § 413(a).

The record contains written statements given by the plaintiff, her husband's cousin, Mr. Gordon Broyles, and others. The plaintiff Mrs. Broyles stated on a domestic-service questionnaire on June 29, 1977 that she had performed domestic work for Mr. Gordon Broyles for a period of approximately 5 years between May, 1972, and June, 1977. Her duties included sweeping, mopping, washing and ironing clothes, making beds and doing some cooking. Mrs. Broyles stated that she worked approximately 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, and that she stopped work when she became unable to work in June, 1977. She stated that she was paid $10 per week with payment usually being made in supplies rather than cash. The plaintiff stated further that she had no specific hours and got no instructions from Mr. Broyles as to the proper performance of her duties. She stated that she owned the land upon which Mr. Broyles lived and had allowed him to build a house on it.

Mr. Gordon Broyles also filed a domestic-services questionnaire on June 29, 1977, in which he noted that the plaintiff only came in 1 day a week for 8 hours, at her choice, and that he fended for himself the rest of the week. Mr. Broyles was uncertain as to the date that the arrangement had begun and stated further that he had paid the plaintiff $10 per week for her services, usually by cash or check. He stated that he had not filed Social Security returns because he did not know it was required. Mr. Broyles asserted in another undated statement that the plaintiff had begun her work for him in May, 1972; that, while she worked only 1 day a week, she was at his house at other times because she had a key and lives next door; that he paid her $10 per week in cash or check but occasionally purchased additional items for her such as gas and other supplies; and that he did not understand why Mrs. Broyles had said he paid her with supplies in lieu of cash, since that was untrue.

The plaintiff stated on July 1, 1977, that she remembered only one check Mr. Broyles had given her, and that most of her reimbursements were in supplies because Mr. Broyles was afraid that she would give money to her son.

Mrs. John P. Turner reported in an undated statement that Mr. Broyles had worked for her several times since 1954, and that there had been occasions on which the plaintiff came to her place asking Mr. Broyles for the money he owed her for housekeeping. Mrs. Turner stated also that on one such occasion she made out a check payable to the order of the plaintiff at Mr. Broyles' request. Mrs. Turner stated that at times she gave the plaintiff money and deducted these sums from her payments to Mr. Broyles. Mrs. Belvira Park provided a written statement of August 1, 1977 in which she reported that Mr. Broyles had worked for her since 1973 on an intermittent basis. She stated that Mr. Broyles would pay the plaintiff money and, on occasions when he did not have it, she would pay the plaintiff and deduct it from her payments to Mr. Broyles. Mr. Broyles stated on September 1, 1977 that he had paid the plaintiff $10 or more per week for domestic work for at least 5 years.

The plaintiff stated on November 3, 1977 that Mr. Broyles stayed with her for approximately a year after he had been released from a mental institution. She allowed Mr. Broyles to live, and eventually build himself a house, on her property. She stated also that she had worked for Mr. Broyles for approximately 6 years, and that she had told him that he would have to pay her $10 a week "* * * because he was drinking-up all his money. * * *" She also noted that she had worked at some other places, but admitted that she had no proof of her earnings.

Mr. Broyles gave a further statement on November 28, 1977 in which he stated that he had lived on the plaintiff's property for about 10 years, and that she had helped him with his housework when he first moved on her property. He stated that the plaintiff was currently working for him and that he paid her what he could afford, but that she worked even when he could not afford to pay her.

The plaintiff reported on June 30, 1978 that she had filed 21 domestic-employee tax returns in November, 1977, in order to obtain the quarters needed for insured status, and that she and Mr. Broyles had paid the necessary taxes at that time. Photocopies of several checks written by Mr. Broyles to the plaintiff appear in the record. These are dated July 6, 1976, July 7, 1976, December, 1976, March 20, 1974, and July 1, 1977. All but the December, 1976 check stated that they were for housework. Finally, the record contains photocopies of the quarterly tax-returns filed by Mr. Broyles on November 2, 1977 showing that he had paid wages to the plaintiff.

At the administrative hearing herein, Mrs. Broyles testified that she had known Mr. Broyles for approximately 20 years, and that they were and had been good friends. She stated that she started working for Mr. Broyles a number of years ago but that he only started paying her about 5 years ago, even though she was doing the same services that she had been doing previously. She was indefinite in describing the other persons for whom she claimed to have worked for the past 5 years. She stated that she was no longer able to work for Mr. Broyles because she was disabled.

The plaintiff's sister, Ms. Bonnie Reynolds, testified at the hearing and generally corroborated the plaintiff's testimony. Mrs. Reynolds testified that she knew that the plaintiff had done some work for Mr. Broyles and stated that she felt that the...