Morrison v. Heckler, Civ. No. 4-84-1096.

• Citation: 602 F. Supp. 1485
• Decision Date: 12 February 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 4-84-1096.
• Parties: Stella MORRISON, on behalf of herself and her minor children, Plaintiff, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and Leonard W. Levine, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

602 F. Supp. 1485

Stella MORRISON, on behalf of herself and her minor children, Plaintiff, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and Leonard W. Levine, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Defendants.

Civ. No. 4-84-1096.

United States District Court, D. Minnesota, Fourth Division.

February 12, 1985.

Berry Freisen, Steven C. Moon, and Michael Haggedorn, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, St. Paul, Minn., for plaintiff.

James Goeser, Regional Attys. Office, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Chicago, Ill., Mary Egan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for federal defendant.

Vicki Sleeper, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Minn., for state defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

DIANA E. MURPHY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Stella Morrison brought this class action against defendant Margaret M. Heckler, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the Secretary), and Leonard W. Levine, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (the State), alleging that a regulation promulgated by the Secretary and implemented by the State does not properly interpret an amendment to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, § 2640 of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) to be codified at 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(39). Plaintiff seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as attorney's fees. Jurisdiction is alleged under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

At an earlier stage in this proceeding this court preliminarily certified a class,¹ issued a temporary restraining order (TRO),² and set a date to hear the parties' cross motions for summary judgment. By order of November 28, 1984, the court designated the state as a nominal party. On December 10, 1984, the court granted plaintiff's motions for a revised preliminary class certification³ and for a preliminary injunction enjoining the state from terminating, reducing, or denying AFDC or MA benefits to the revised class. 602 F.Supp. 1482. The matter is now before the court upon the motions of plaintiff for class certification and summary judgment, and the motion of the Secretary for dismissal, or, alternatively, summary judgment. Both sides have agreed that the matter may be properly resolved at this time.

I. STATUTORY BACKGROUND

Congress enacted the AFDC program under Title IV, Part A, of the Social Security Act to enable states to provide financial assistance "to needy dependent children and the parents or relatives with whom they are living...." 42 U.S.C. § 601. To qualify for AFDC, a family must contain children who meet the "deprivation" and "age" requirements of section 406 of the Act. 42 U.S.C. § 606(a)(1) and (2). If both requirements are satisfied, AFDC payments are provided to those children and their caretaker relatives whose income and resources fall below the state-established standards of assistance.

Generally within the AFDC program, the only income and resources that are considered are those of the dependent children and the relative who seeks aid as the children's caretaker. 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(7). This principle is subject to several exceptions that require the consideration of the income and resources of persons who do not seek AFDC.⁴ Section 2640 of the DRA, section 402(a)(39) of the Social Security Act (the Act), the interpretation of which is at issue here, creates an additional income-deeming rule. It provides:

A State plan for aid and services to needy families with children must ... (39) Provide that in making the determination ... of need with respect to a dependent child whose parent or legal guardian is under the age selected by the State pursuant to § 406(a)(2), the State agency shall (except as otherwise provided in this part) include any income of such minor's own parents or legal guardian who are living in the same home as such minor and dependent child, to the same extent that income of a stepparent is included under paragraph (31). 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(39).

Thus, the statute requires that the resources of the grandparents be considered whenever AFDC is requested for a child by a parent who 1) is under the age selected by the state pursuant to section 406(a)(2)⁵ and 2) resided in the same home as "such minor's" own parents.

On September 10, 1984, the Secretary issued "interim final rules" requiring all states participating in the AFDC program to amend their state plans to include the changes mandated by the DRA. One of those changes, at issue herein, required states to count as income to an assistance unit consisting of a "dependent child" and that child's "minor" parent, the income of the "minor parent's" own parents who live in the same home.

The interim final rule contained the following definition of the term "minor":

For AFDC, in the case of a dependent child whose parent ... is a minor, i.e., under the age selected by the State pursuant to § 233.90(b) (without regard to school attendance), the State shall count as income to the assistance unit the income ... of such minor's own parent(s) ... living in the same household as the minor and the dependent child. 49 Fed. Reg. 35586, 35600 (September 10, 1984), to be codified at 45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a)(3)(xviii).

Thus, in a state like Minnesota, which, under 42 U.S.C. § 606(a)(2)(B), has extended AFDC to parents under the age of 19 attending secondary school on a full-time basis, the grandparent deeming provision applies to three generation households with "minor" parents up to the age of 19, regardless of school attendance. Included in this definition of the term "minor" are parents who are neither "minors" under state law nor eligible for AFDC payments as "dependent children" under section 406 of the AFDC program. For instance, an 18 year old living in the State of Minnesota has reached the age of majority. Minn. Stat. § 645.451. Moreover, if not attending secondary school on a full-time basis, an 18 year old cannot receive AFDC benefits as a dependent child. 45 C.F.R. § 233.90(b).

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is an 18 year old mother with two children, Jennifer, born April 12, 1983, and Kristin, born October 4, 1984. Although she has previously lived apart from her parents, she presently lives with them because of health problems that both she and her younger child have experienced since that child's birth. Plaintiff is not a student and has not attended school for nearly two years. Her sole means of supporting her two children and herself is an AFDC grant. Prior to the adoption of the rule at issue herein, plaintiff and her two children qualified for a monthly AFDC payment of $524.00. After considering the income of plaintiff's parents,⁶ however, plaintiff and her two children were terminated from the AFDC program. Plaintiff has submitted figures showing her parents' monthly expenses. According to these figures, her parents have only about $25.00 left after they pay all of their monthly bills and necessary expenses, leaving no money to support plaintiff and her children.

Plaintiff contends that the rule promulgated by the Secretary wrongly applies the grandparent deeming provision to children whose 18 year old parents cannot themselves qualify as dependent children within the meaning of section 406(a)(2) of the Act.

DISCUSSION

A. The Motions for Summary Judgment⁷

Both sides agree that the sole issue is whether the Secretary's interpretation of the language in section 402(a)(39), "under the age selected by the State pursuant to § 406(a)(2)", is consistent with the intent of Congress. The Secretary argues that Congress did not intend to include the school attendance requirement of section 406(a)(2) because the language of section 402(a)(39) refers only to age. She notes that section 402(a)(38) was enacted at the same time as section 402(a)(39), but contained a different reference to section 406(a). She asserts that section 402(a)(38) specifically incorporates all the requirements of 406(a) by the language, "meets the conditions described in clause (1) and (2) of section 406(a)". Section 402(a)(39), on the other hand, refers only to age: "is under the age selected by the State pursuant to section 406(a)(2)."

The Secretary argues that Congress deliberately omitted the school attendance requirement to avoid discriminating against the dependent child of an 18 year old parent who remained in school. Under the plaintiff's interpretation, the Secretary alleges that this child, unlike the child of an 18 year old parent who is not going to school but who lives at home, would have its need for AFDC determined by including the grandparent's income. According to the Secretary, this discriminatory result would create a powerful disincentive against the parent finishing school in her 18th year. The Secretary contends that the public policy purpose of the state school attendance option would thus be defeated, since the parent may have to choose between school and monthly public assistance benefits.

In addition, the Secretary contends that plaintiff's argument incorrectly focuses on the eligibility of the minor parent for AFDC, whereas the grandparent deeming provision is concerned with the need of the minor's dependent children. The Secretary asserts that her interpretation is not unfair to a child whose minor mother is 18, does not attend school but lives with the child's grandparents. This child is assumed to benefit from the grandparent's income and the income the young mother — no longer a dependent or in school — can earn for herself and her family.

Finally, the Secretary argues that her interpretation of a statute she is charged with administering deserves great deference and should be affirmed if it has a reasonable basis.

Plaintiff, by contrast, argues that the Secretary's regulation is void because it applies the deeming provision to parents who are not "minors" or "under the age selected by the state pursuant to § 406(a)(2)." Plaintiff contends that the intent of...