Court Opinion

ID: 9478777
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:57:47.000511+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:36.785022
License: Public Domain

KEARSE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. While I agree with the majority that the district court applied the wrong test and that this Court need not remand but may determine here whether the Secretary’s ruling should be upheld, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the record lacks sufficient evidence to support the Secretary’s finding that the claimant’s misrepresentation in his application for disability benefits, though not fraudulent, was knowing and material.
A claimant is disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act if he is unable to engage in substantial gainful activity because of a physical impairment that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months. 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1)(A) (1976 & 1982). The question before the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) in 1979 was thus whether, beginning in December 1978, Barone had been or would be unable to work for at least 12 consecutive months because he was impaired.
In his October 19, 1979 application, Bar-one did not just understate his earnings by $206. He also misinformed the SSA as to the length of his recent employment and as to the reasons he left certain jobs. As to Barone’s employment during the prior 10 months, the disability report part of his application stated, “I was out of work from 12/20/78 to 2/5/79. I was out of work from 3/6/79 to 9/10/79.” Consistent with these dates, Barone checked a box on the work activity report that represented that he had “worked 3 months or less and stopped because of [his] injury or illness.” On the same report, Barone stated that the reason his working ended on “3/6/79” was that he “had an infection in [his] right foot and was unable to work.”
In assessing the duration of Barone’s impairment and its effect on his ability to work, and SSA claims reviewer in October 1979 found as follows:
The wage earner stopped work on 12/20/78. He returned to work from 2/5/79 to 3/6/79 and again from 9/10/79 to 10/18/79. Since both periods of work *54lasted 6 weeks or less and he had to stop work both times because of his medical problems, this is considered an unsuccessful work attempt.
In fact, however, Barone had worked in 1979 from February through May and from September onward. Thus, instead of being able to work less than three of the first 10 months of 1979, as his disability report stated, Barone had in fact worked approximately six of those months.
In the 1986 proceedings, the Secretary found, in light of Barone’s actual work history, (1) that Barone had not been disabled within the meaning of the Act as of December 1978, (2) that his improper receipt of benefits commencing with that date was attributable to his fault, and (3) that though not fraud, his fault was similar to fraud. We are required to uphold the decision of the Secretary if it is supported by “substantial evidence” in the record as a whole. 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (1982). “Substantial evidence" means “ 'more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.’ ” Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1427, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971) (quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). It is not within our province to reverse the Secretary’s finding simply because we might have chosen to give greater credence to testimony of the claimant that was not credited by the Secretary.
In light of the undisputed facts that Bar-one’s application contained misrepresentations as to the amount of money he earned, the length of time he worked, and his reasons for leaving particular jobs, I believe the Secretary’s finding that Barone’s misrepresentations were material and not unknowing, and hence were similar to fraud, is supported by significantly more than a scintilla of evidence.