Oliver v. State Social Security Commission

• Decision Date: 09 January 1945
• Docket Number: No. 26679.,26679.
• Citation: 184 S.W.2d 774
• Parties: OLIVER v. STATE SOCIAL SECURITY COMMISSION.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

184 S.W.2d 774

OLIVER v. STATE SOCIAL SECURITY COMMISSION.

No. 26679.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

January 9, 1945.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pike County; Theodore Bruere, Judge.

"Not to be reported in State Reports."

Action by William P. Oliver against State Social Security Commission for old age assistance. From a judgment reversing decision of Commission that claimant was not entitled to assistance and remanding cause to Commission for a further determination, Commission appeals.

Affirmed.

Roy McKittrick, Atty. Gen., and B. Richards Creech, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Edward V. Long, of Bowling Green, and F. D. Wilkins, of Louisiana, for respondent.

SUTTON, Commissioner.

This is an action for old age assistance brought by William P. Oliver before the State Social Security Commission under the provisions of section 9406, R.S.Mo. 1939, Mo.R.S.A. The hearing was had before the commission on April 8, 1943. The commission rendered its finding and judgment, on May 21, 1943, that the claimant was not entitled to old age assistance, and claimant appealed to the circuit court. On February 1, 1944, the court rendered judgment, reversing the decision of the commission and remanding the cause to the commission for a further determination. From this judgment the commission has appealed here.

The decision of the commission was put on the ground that the claimant has income, resources, support and maintenance, sufficient for a subsistence compatible with decency and health.

Said section 9406 provides that the amount of benefits, when added to all other income, resources, support and maintenance, shall provide the claimant "with reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health." The section further provides that benefits shall not be payable to any person who has earning capacity, income, or resources, whether such income or resources is received from some other person or persons, gifts or otherwise, "sufficient to meet his needs for a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health." It will be observed that the section affirmatively requires that the claimant shall be provided with reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health, as well as denies benefits to one who is already provided with reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health. In other words, there is an affirmative as well as a negative provision with regard to the benefits to be allowed. These provisions prescribe the standard of eligibility. Neither the commission nor the courts are authorized to alter this standard.

The evidence before the commission in this case shows that the claimant was at the time of the hearing seventy-eight years old, and his wife was seventy-two. Neither of them had any money, securities, property, or interest in property, of any kind or character. Respondent was in a bad state of health. His left hip was permanently out of place, causing his leg to become stiff so that he was unable to bend it and requiring him to use crutches to get about. One foot was three inches shorter than the other. He also had a rupture. He could do no physical labor of any kind, and had been so incapacitated for seven years. His wife was also in very bad health and very feeble. She was unable to attend the hearing before the commission. She had a heart ailment, hardening of the arteries, and arthritis. Respondent and his wife lived together with an afflicted son fifty-three years old, in an old dilapidated house, on an old worn-out hill farm, containing approximately 135 acres, owned by the afflicted son. Only ten acres of the farm was in cultivation; the remainder was covered with sassafras and sprouts. The farm was mortgaged for $1,900, which was more than it was worth. The year preceding the hearing nothing was raised on the farm. The son worked off the farm, and out of his earnings he had to buy feed for his...