Mary M. Brockman v. Robert H. Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

The appellant sought disability benefits under sections 216(i) and 223 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 416 (i), 423. Her first application was filed in December 1960, and she then claimed that she had become unable to work in July or August 1953, as a result of injuries which she had sustained more than twenty years before. After extended administrative proceedings, which included a hearing, it was finally determined administratively, on November 6, 1962, that the application should be rejected. Central to the decision was the fact that the appellant had actually engaged in substantial gainful activity from November 1947 until September 1952 and that there had been no manifest change in her physical condition between the time “when she was last employed and March 31, 1958, when she last met the earning requirements.” The Appeals Council thereupon affirmed the Hearing Examiner’s decision, concluding that the appellant was not under “disability” within the meaning of the Act when she filed her application in 1960. The appellant did not seek judicial review of the appellee’s final administrative decision.

Subsequently, on March 22, 1965, the appellant again applied for the…