Todd v. Norman

• Decision Date: 20 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-1251,87-1251
• Citation: 840 F.2d 608
• Parties: Elizabeth TODD and Sara Starr, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Appellants, v. Nancy A. NORMAN, Commissioner, Iowa Department of Human Services and Otis R. Bowen, Secretary, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 608

840 F.2d 608

56 USLW 2507

Elizabeth TODD and Sara Starr, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Appellants, v. Nancy A. NORMAN, Commissioner, Iowa Department of Human

Services and Otis R. Bowen, Secretary, United

States Department of Health and Human

Services, Appellees.

No. 87-1251.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 1, 1987.

Decided March 2, 1988.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 20, 1988.

John S. Allen, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellants.

Daniel W. Hart, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, and Robert E. Keith, Washington, D.C., for appellees.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

This appeal raises the question whether Social Security Child's Insurance Benefits ("Child's Insurance Benefits") paid pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 402(d) are "child support payments" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(8)(A)(vi) (the "child support disregard").

I. BACKGROUND.

Elizabeth Todd and Sarah Starr ("appellants") are recipients of Child's Insurance Benefits and Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC") benefits. The Iowa Department of Human Services ("Iowa"), in determining AFDC eligibility and grant levels, refused to "disregard" the first $50 of Child's Insurance Benefits that appellants received on behalf of their children. Appellants filed a class action lawsuit to challenge this policy.

Congress established the AFDC program to provide aid to children who are needy because of a parent's death, absence or incapacity. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 606(a). Although state participation in the program is not mandatory, states which elect to participate must follow federal law when administering their AFDC program. Congress mandates that participating states consider all income and resources available to the recipient family before determining the need-based amount of assistance payable under the AFDC program. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(7). Thus, any income received by AFDC recipients is set off dollar-for-dollar from the applicable benefit level. However, a portion of various categories of "income" must be "disregarded," or not counted as family income, before the state makes a "need" determination. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(8)(A).

Once the state has made this need determination, a benefit award is calculated, and AFDC payments are made to the AFDC recipient. In exchange for the AFDC payment, the AFDC recipient is required to assign to the state all rights to child support payments from the non-custodial parent. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(26)(A). The state then collects the child support payments from the non-custodial parent. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 651 et seq.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-369, Sec. 2640, 98 Stat. 494, 1145-46 (1984), introduced two new provisions to the AFDC program relating to the child support assignment described above. One provision, codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 657(b)(1), requires the state to distribute to the AFDC recipient the first $50 of monthly child support payments it collects from the noncustodial parent. This $50 distribution is not to affect eligibility or decrease assistance. The other provision, which is at issue here, provides that the state must:

* * * disregard the first $50 of any child support payments received in such month with respect to the dependent child or children in any family applying for or receiving aid to families with dependent children (including support payments collected and paid to the family under 457(b) [42 U.S.C.S. Sec. 657(b) ] * * *.

42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(8)(A)(vi).

Child's Insurance Benefits are paid to the dependent child or children of an individual (here the non-custodial parent) entitled to disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 402(d). Under the Iowa AFDC policy, Child's Insurance Benefits are not considered "child support payments." If Iowa treated the Child's Insurance Benefits as "child support payments," and "disregarded" them, then appellants' accountable income would be reduced by $50 per month. Each appellant would therefore receive an additional $50 per month in AFDC benefits. Appellants contend that Iowa violates the Social Security Act by counting Child's Insurance Benefits as family income, and thus shortchanges them by $50 per month.

After appellants began this action, Iowa joined Otis Bowen, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), seeking indemnification for any judgment which might be entered against it. The district court ¹ entered an order granting appellants' motion for class certification. The case was submitted to the district court on cross-motions for summary judgment. On December 18, 1986, the district court entered an order granting defendants' motion for summary judgment. This appeal followed. We affirm.

II. DISCUSSION.

In determining the scope of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(8)(A)(vi), the child support disregard, we look first to its language. If the statutory language is unambiguous, in the absence of a "clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary, that language must ordinarily be regarded as conclusive." Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980). The language at issue here is "child support payments." Unfortunately, Congress has not defined this term in the child support disregard, or anywhere else in the statutory scheme. Appellants nonetheless contend that the plain meaning of "child support payments" includes Child's Insurance Benefits because, like child support, Child's Insurance Benefits are attributable to the work effort of the non-custodial parent, and are used exclusively for the support and maintenance of that parent's child or children. These factors, appellants assert, make Child's Insurance Benefits payments indistinguishable from all other forms of child support.

Appellants' argument goes too far, however. If accepted, it would expand the meaning of "child support payments" far beyond its contemporary denotation as a non-custodial parent's legal obligation to contribute to the support and maintenance of the children. For example, proceeds from virtually any insurance or annuity program that are attributable in part to the work effort of the parent could be considered "child support," once payment to the dependent children begins. Indeed, under appellants' criteria, part of every parent's income could be deemed "child support," a result that would transform a carefully crafted legislative concept into a generality.

Other distinctions militate against appellants' interpretation. Child's Insurance Benefits are payable regardless of any legal obligation of the parent to pay child support. ² Child's Insurance Benefits are not calibrated to the needs of the child, nor are they based solely upon the non-custodial parent's "income," two typical determinants of a child support assessment. Though Child's Insurance Benefits are in some sense "earned" by the parent, they are paid by the federal government. Because the duty to pay child support generally cannot be transferred to a third party, see 59 Am.Jur.2d, Parent and Child, Sec. 71 (1987), it follows that payments made by a third party, even if earned in part by a parent, cannot be "child support payments" within the ordinary meaning of that term.

More importantly, we are persuaded that Congress recognized a distinction between "child support payments" and Child's Insurance Benefits in other provisions of the AFDC program. The legislative history of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(38)--the revised AFDC family unit definition--speaks in terms of "Social Security benefits" and "child support" as separate and distinct sources of income. See, e.g., S.Rep. No. 494, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 47, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 781, 823. In short, what guidance Congress has provided for this "plain meaning" analysis leads to the conclusion that "child support payments" and Child's Insurance Benefits are not equivalent under the Social Security Act.

Appellants urge the application of Iowa law to determine what constitutes "child support payments." Appellants point to Potts v. Potts, 240 N.W.2d 680 (Iowa 1976), and a raft of other cases to support their contention that Child's Insurance Benefits are considered "child support payments" under Iowa law. Appellants construe the cases overbroadly, however. Our review indicates only that, under extenuating circumstances, some state courts find it equitable to treat Child's Insurance Benefits as a substitute for child support payments. See, e.g., Potts, 240 N.W.2d at 681. Others have reached a contrary result. Nibs v. Nibs, 625 P.2d 1256 (Okla.1981); Fowler v. Fowler, 156 Conn. 569, 244 A.2d 375 (1968); Chase v. Chase, 74 Wash.2d 253, 444 P.2d 145 (1968). If Child's Insurance Benefits simply were "child support payments," the lengthy discourse on equity each of these courts engages in would be unnecessary.

Even if the case law were more persuasive, we would be hesitant to encroach upon the state's traditional prerogatives to decide family law questions by determining what constitutes "child support payments," particularly where no Iowa court has directly addressed the issue. We are also mindful that, when construing a federal statute, we must strive for an interpretation that will result in consistent application. The lack of consistency among state courts as to whether Child's Insurance Benefits are "child support payments" confirms that the Social Security Act would have a varied and inconsistent meaning throughout the several states if we relied on state law. Accordingly, we decline to determine whether Iowa law includes Child's Insurance Benefits within the definition of "child support payments," and instead hold that Child's Insurance Benefits do not fall within the plain meaning of "child support...