Gainey v. Flemming, 6304.
| Decision Date | 13 May 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 6304.,6304. |
| Parties | Sharon D. GAINEY, Sandra Lee Gainey, Minors, by their next friend, Marjorie Wilson, Appellants, v. Arthur S. FLEMMING, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
David Berger, Denver, Colo., for appellants.
Jack K. Anderson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Golden, Colo. (Donald G. Brotzman, U. S. Atty., Boulder, Colo., was with him on the brief), for appellee.
Before MURRAH, Chief Judge, and BRATTON and LEWIS, Circuit Judges.
Sharon D. Gainey and Sandra Lee Gainey acting through their mother and next friend, Marjorie Wilson, formerly Marjorie Gainey, filed an application for benefits under the Social Security Act, as amended 42 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq. The basis of the application was that the claimants were surviving children of their deceased father, Wallace W. Gainey, a wage earner. After intervening departmental proceedings which do not have any present material bearing, the claimants requested and obtained a hearing before a referee. The referee found among other things that the wage earner was married twice; that he and his first wife were married in 1910 or 1911 in Tangipahoa, Louisiana; that she died in 1951; that at the time of the hearing before the referee there were two daughters living of that marriage, one residing in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the other in Clermont Harbor, Mississippi; that in 1935, the wage earner and the mother of the claimants were married in Colorado; that the claimants were the daughters of that marriage; that the mother of the claimants divorced the wage earner in 1950; that the wage earner died in 1956; that a search of the divorce records in New Orleans and in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, failed to reveal that a divorce did exist between the wage earner and his first wife; that although there was a presumption that a valid marriage between the wage earner and the mother of the claimants existed, the facts contained in the record overcame such presumption; that the claimants failed to establish the validity of the marriage between their mother and the wage earner; and that, therefore, the claimants were not the legitimate children of their mother and the wage earner. Based primarily upon such findings, the referee decided that the claimants were not entitled to benefits under the Act and that decision became the final action of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. As authorized in 42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g), the claimants instituted this proceeding in the United States Court for Colorado to review the action of the secretary. The secretary filed with his answer a certified copy of the transcript of the record including the evidence upon which the findings and decision were based. Both sides moved for summary judgment. The secretary's motion was granted and this appeal followed.
The judgment is challenged upon the ground that the finding of the referee that a divorce did not exist between the wage earner and his first wife was not supported by substantial evidence, as used in administrative hearings. The jurisdiction of the court to entertain the proceeding to review the final decision of the secretary had its source in section 205(g) of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g). While vesting certain specified courts with jurisdiction to entertain proceedings to review final decisions of the secretary upon claims for benefits under the Act, the section expressly provides that findings of fact of the secretary, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive on such review. And the conclusive effect of findings of fact made by the secretary includes inferences from the evidence if there was substantial basis for them. Folsom v. O'Neal, 10 Cir., 250 F.2d 946; Carqueville v. Flemming, 7 Cir., 263 F.2d 875. Therefore, the scope of judicial review in a case of this kind is not unlimited. Neither the district court in the first instance nor a court of appeals on appeal is free to substitute its findings of fact or its inferences drawn from the evidence for those of the referee which later become the basis of the final decision of the secretary if the findings and inferences of the referee are supported by substantial evidence.
Appropriate application of this well-established guide leads us to the conclusion that there was substantial evidence in the record before the referee to support the pivotal finding of fact that the wage earner and his first wife were never divorced. The evidence presented conflicts from which different inferences might have been drawn but they were for the referee. We cannot say that the finding is without substantial support in the record. And there being rational basis in the record for the finding, it will not be overturned on appeal.
The substance of the further attack upon the judgment is that the administrative procedural rule of substantial evidence does not apply in this case; that instead, the rule of law in Colorado applies in weighing the evidence bearing upon the question of the validity of the marriage of the wage earner to his second wife; that the law of Colorado would require a court, upon the facts presented in the hearing before the referee, to find that the second marriage of the wage earner was valid, and the children thereof legitimate;...
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Schafer v. Astrue
...of case law held that all those claiming child status had to prove the ability to inherit under state law. See, e.g., Gainey v. Flemming, 279 F.2d 56 (10th Cir.1960) (affirming denial of benefits to undisputed children of an invalid marriage because the children could not inherit); Robles v......
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Cody v. Ribicoff
...there is substantial evidence to support the findings of the Secretary. Kohrs v. Flemming, 8 Cir., 272 F.2d 731; Gainey v. Flemming, 10 Cir., 279 F.2d 56, at page 58; Ferenz v. Folsom, 3 Cir., 237 F.2d 46, 49, certiorari denied 352 U.S. 1006, 77 S.Ct. 569, 1 L.Ed.2d 551; Henderson v. Flemmi......
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...S.Ct. 1420, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1970); Cooley v. Weinberger, 518 F.2d 1151 (10th Cir. 1975); Trujillo v. Richardson, supra; Gainey v. Flemming, 279 F.2d 56 (10th Cir. 1960). The Supreme Court in Richardson v. Perales, supra, articulated the following test of substantial such relevant evidence a......
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Sewell v. Celebrezze
...case, citing Folsom v. O'Neal, 10 Cir., 250 F.2d 946 (1957), Carqueville v. Flemming, 7 Cir., 263 F.2d 875 (1959) and Gainey v. Flemming, 10 Cir., 279 F.2d 56 (1960), "the conclusive effect of findings of fact made by the secretary includes inferences from the evidence if there was substant......
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ARTICLE 10
...some other fairly comparable ground. An action for divorce is one in which termination is sought of a valid marriage. Gainey v. Fleming, 279 F.2d 56 (10th Cir. 1960). For the effect of an invalidity of marriage determination on maintenance payments which were terminated upon remarriage, see......
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ARTICLE 10 UNIFORM DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE ACT
...some other fairly comparable ground. An action for divorce is one in which termination is sought of a valid marriage. Gainey v. Fleming, 279 F.2d 56 (10th Cir. 1960). For the effect of an invalidity of marriage determination on maintenance payments which were terminated upon remarriage, see......