Swope

ORDER

This is an appeal pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g) from a final decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services denying plaintiff Virgil Swope disability benefits. Plaintiff claims he has been disabled by liver disease since July 1980. The Administrative Law Judge (AU) found that plaintiff had been suffering from liver disease, but that the impairment did not become “severe” enough to be considered “disabling” under the Social Security Act until June 1981. Because plaintiff last met the special earnings requirement of the Act on September 30, 1980, the AU found that plaintiff was not entitled to disability insurance benefits. This case is before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment. In the alternative, plaintiff requests remand of the matter to the Secretary.

Central to this appeal is the time at which plaintiff is to be considered to have been “disabled” within the meaning of the Social Security Act. Disability is defined as the “inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a…