White v. State Social Security Commission

• Decision Date: 06 March 1940
• Docket Number: 36537
• Parties: Mary E. White, Relator, v. State Social Security Commission, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

137 S.W.2d 569

345 Mo. 1046

Mary E. White, Relator, v. State Social Security Commission, Appellant

No. 36537

Supreme Court of Missouri

March 6, 1940

Appeal from Buchanan Circuit Court.

Transferred to the Kansas City Court of Appeals.

Roy McKittrick, Attorney General, and Aubrey R. Hammett Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.

(1) The State Social Security Commission is not a State officer as provided in the Constitution of the State of Missouri. State ex rel. Gehrs v. Pub. Serv. Comm., 90 S.W.2d 390; Sec. 4, State Social Security Act, p. 470, Laws 1937; Secs 7, 8, 16, State Social Security Act, pp. 471, 472, 475; State ex rel. Orscheln Bros. Truck Lines, Inc., v. Pub Serv. Comm., 92 S.W.2d 884. (2) No one can question the constitutionality of a public act except one whose rights are impaired. No constitutional question was raised so as to invoke the jurisdiction of this court. State v. Becker, 41 S.W.2d 190; Kingshighway Presbyterian Church v. Sun Realty Co., 24 S.W.2d 111; 12 C. J., sec. 177, p. 760; Commercial Bank of Jamesport v. Songser, 62 S.W.2d 907; Butler v. Bd. of Education of Consolidated School Dist., No. 1, Audrain County, 16 S.W.2d 45; Woehler v. St. Louis, 114 S.W.2d 985; Daniel & Henry Co., v. Bierman & Sons Meddlin Rubber Co., 116 S.W.2d 127; Brookline Canning & Packing Co. v. Evans, 142 S.W. 321; Stock v. Schloman, 18 S.W.2d 430. (3) This appeal does not require the construction of a revenue measure so as to give this court jurisdiction. Secs. 15, 17, p. 475, Laws 1937; State ex rel. School Dist. No. 87, Crawford County v. Schuck, 199 S.W. 975; State v. Atkins, 119 S.W. 1093; In re Mendenhall, 10 F.Supp. 122; Meek v. State, 22 P.2d 935; Bushnell v. Miss. & Fox River Drain. Dist., Clark County, 102 S.W.2d 874.

Hyde, C. Bradley and Dalton, CC., concur.

OPINION

HYDE

This is an appeal by the State Social Security Commission from the following judgment of the Circuit Court of Buchanan County:

"Mary E. White, claimant for benefit under the Social Security Laws, having submitted her claim to the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, Missouri, Division No. 3, and having had a hearing on the 10th day of October, 1938, and the court after seeing, and hearing the plaintiff (appellant) and the witnesses, and evidence in the case finds: (First nine findings in favor of claimant as to age, residence, property etc., essential to eligibility for old age assistance are omitted).

"'(10) That the part of Section 16 of Missouri's New Social Security Law set out in lines 15, 16, 17 and 18, and enacted in 1937, which denies the circuit court the right to pass on the amount to be allowed appellant is unconstitutional, for the reason that it is in conflict with Sec. 11 of said Statute; (11) that appellant comes within the purview of Missouri's New Social Security Law; that she is entitled to be and she is hereby restored, to the old age assistance roll, and that she is entitled to $ 23.00 per month old age assistance, which will maintain her in a reasonable manner, compatible with health and decency.'

"It is, therefore, ordered and adjudged by the court, that appellant be restored to the old age assistance roll, and that her old age assistance be and the same is hereby fixed in the amount of $ 23.00 per month."

The jurisdiction of this court is raised by a motion to transfer. [See Sec. 12, Art. VI, and Sec. 5, Amendment of 1884, Constitution of Missouri.] It is suggested that a constitutional question is raised by finding No. 10 in the judgment. Clearly the contention, that one section of the Act (creating the Commission and defining its duties) conflicts with another section thereof, raises only a question of construction of the Act and not a constitutional question. We also note that the motion for new trial assigns as a ground that the court's finding applicant to be entitled to such assistance is contrary to the amendment to the Constitution authorizing old age assistance (amendment to Art. IV, Sec. 47, adopted Nov. 8, 1932, Laws 1933, p. 478) because "the evidence clearly shows that said Mary E. White is not without means of support." Obviously this only raises the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding. We rule that there is no constitutional question involved.

It is suggested that a "State Officer is a party." However, no individual officer is a party. The parties are the applicant and the State Social Security Commission. It is not a state officer because it is a legal entity and a quasi public corporation as we have held in the case of the State Workmen's Compensation Commission, the State Highway Commission, and the State Public Service Commission, and for the same reasons. [See Secs. 4, 7 and 8, Social Security Act, p. 467, Laws 1937; State ex rel. Goldman v. Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission, 325 Mo. 153, 27 S.W.2d 1026; State ex rel. State Highway Commission v. Day, 327 Mo. 122, 35 S.W.2d 37; State ex rel. Gehrs v. Public Service Commission, 338 Mo. 177, 90 S.W.2d 390.]

It is suggested that this is a case "involving the construction of the revenue laws of this State." Our attention is called to a decision of the Springfield Court of Appeals so holding. [Hughes v. State Social Security Commission, 133 S.W.2d 430.] This ruling is based upon the statement of that court, in State ex rel. School District No. 87 v. Shuck, 184 Mo.App. 511, 170 S.W. 431 (decided 273 Mo. 50, 199 S.W. 975), quoted from the opinion of this court in State ex rel. Hadley v. Adkins, 221 Mo. 112, 119 S.W. 1091, "that the term 'revenue law' covers and includes laws relating to the disbursement of the revenue." The Court of Appeals said "the controverted question in the instant case is the proper construction of the old age pension or assistance statute providing for the distribution of the State revenues out of the State Treasury," and that the judgment "affects directly, and not indirectly, the revenues of the State by requiring the payment out of the State Treasury of an old age pension or assistance to the respondent." However, we think the court overlooked the fact that the case before it (as did this case) presented "the sole question of whether the applicant is entitled to benefits and not as to the amount thereof." [Sec. 16, Social Security Act, Laws 1937, p. 475.] Under the plain words thereof, anything more would be coram non judice and void. Therefore, the judgment could only legally establish the eligibility of the applicant to be granted benefits in an amount to be later determined by the Social Security Commission. Thus the judgment did not require and could not compel payment of any amount out of the State Treasury. The Social Security Act provides the method of payment upon monthly rolls prepared by the Commission showing the amounts it has determined for each applicant. [Sec. 19, Social Security Act, Laws 1937, p. 476.] Certainly, therefore, the judgment, establishing only eligibility for assistance, affects very indirectly even "the distribution of the State revenues out of the State Treasury." We have held that the determination of the question of whether a school district was legally organized, so as to have authority to levy taxes, did not directly involve the construction of the revenue laws in the constitutional sense. [White v. Boyne, 324 Mo. 176, 23 S.W.2d 107.]

In the Adkins case (221 Mo. 112, 119 S.W. 1091), the construction of the County Depository Law was involved. [Secs. 6817-6821, R S. 1899, now Secs. 12184-12198, R. S. 1929.] This court pointed out that, because that law had "provisions relating to the payment of warrants" it was concerned with "the preservation and disbursement of the funds of the county arising from taxes or otherwise;" and that it also raised revenue because "the county itself obtains a share in the increment of gain...