Opinion ID: 419212
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Source of Reparations in Outrageous Acts.

Text: 19 Grunfeder argues first that reparations do not constitute income under section 1382a(a), since Congress did not intend compensation for outrageous injury to body and health to be counted in determining SSI eligibility. Relying on the regulations promulgated under the SSA, the Secretary argues that  'income' ... means the receipt by an individual of any property ... which he can apply ... to meeting his basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1102(a) (1979) (emphasis added). She asserts that, because need is the key criterion underlying the SSI program, the term income must be read broadly to encompass all revenues actually received by an individual which could be used for food, clothing, and shelter and not in a more narrow sense of earnings or return on investment. 1 20 Neither the Act, its legislative history, nor the regulations promulgated under the SSA explicitly state that reparations payments or, more generally, tort recoveries, are to be counted as income in determining SSI eligibility. Nevertheless, we conclude that the Secretary has the sounder position. 21 First, the SSA itself states that income includes workmen's compensation and veterans' compensation payments. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1382a(a)(2)(B) (1976). These awards are in large part analogous to reparations in that these payments are intended to redress physical and emotional damages arising from past injuries. Even though a person receiving $100 a month in workmen's compensation might reasonably be expected to be more needy than one receiving the same amount in prizes or inheritances, the statutory language leaves little room to doubt that Congress nonetheless intended both individuals to be evaluated for SSI eligibility in precisely the same manner. 22 The broad sweep of the language of the SSA, that includes in income several types of revenue which are not ordinarily considered income in the sense of earnings or return on investment, such as annuity payments (regardless of investment in the contract), gifts, and workmen's compensation benefits, evidences a Congressional intent to treat all receipts, including reparations, as income. Likewise, several explicit statements in the legislative history that stress a desire to help only needy individuals, see H.R.Rep. No. 231, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. 2, 147, 157, reprinted in 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 4989, 4990, 5133, 5143, and a specific assertion that unearned income includes benefits from all other public and private pension, disability, or unemployment programs, id. at 152, reprinted in 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News at 5138 (emphasis added), also support a conclusion that Congress meant all cash revenues received by an individual to be counted as income. 23 The regulations in effect at the time of the termination of Grunfeder's SSI benefits as well as the current regulations support the treatment of reparations as income. While both the old and new versions of the regulations set forth certain receipts which are excluded from income, see 20 C.F.R. Secs. 416.1105-416.1112 (1979); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1103 (1982) (effective Oct. 8, 1980), the two exclusions that are arguably applicable to reparations cannot be so read. As we explain more fully below in Part I(B), the exclusion for medical services does not apply to Grunfeder's reparation payments. See 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1109(a) (1979); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1103(a) (1982). Nor do the exclusions provided by regulation for certain social services apply. The social services exclusion in the prior regulations applies only to receipts in the form of advice, consultation, training ..., or other services of a strictly social nature, not to unrestricted pension payments. See 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1109(b) (1979). Similarly, the current exclusion applies to cash payments received from a nongovernmental social services program only if the payments are explicitly restricted to payment for program-approved services. See 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1103(b)(3) (1982). 24 That two sorts of payments similar to reparations (federal disaster relief and tribal settlement payments) are not counted as unearned income for purposes of determining SSI eligibility lends no comfort to Grunfeder's position. Both exclusions are based on federal statutory provisions which direct that certain federal benefits are not to be counted as unearned income in determining eligibility for SSI benefits. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1382a(b)(11) (1976) (assistance received under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974); 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1264 (1976) (per capita judgment funds distributed to Blackfeet and Gros Ventre tribal members). The prior and current regulations excluding these payments do so on the authority of those statutes. See, e.g., 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1156(a) (1979) (federal disaster relief); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1124(c)(5) (1982) (same); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1146(b) (1979) (Blackfeet and Gros Ventre tribal payments); 20 C.F.R. Secs. 416.1124(b) & 416 subpt. K app. (IV)(b)(1) (1982) (same). Given the similarity of reparations payments to disaster relief and tribal settlement payments, the fact that they are considered unearned income under the statute is instructive. It took special statutory and regulatory exclusions to delete them from unearned income. Unfortunately, no such exclusions exist for reparations. 25 The test of whether a receipt is income under section 1382a(a) is not an individualized one that relies on the particular recipient's reason for receiving the payment or the manner in which she uses the payment, but rather is an objective test to determine whether an individual in the shoes of the recipient could use the payments for food, clothing, or shelter. See 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1102(a) (1979); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.1102 (1982). Since Grunfeder's reparations are fully available to her for use for food, shelter, or clothing, we conclude that, regardless of how Grunfeder herself spends her pension payments, those monies are income under section 1382a(a). 26