Alice R. Ward v. Richard S. Schweiker, Secretary of Health and Human Services

BACKGROUND

In 1976 Ward filed applications for disability insurance and supplemental security income benefits, alleging that she had been unable to work since October 1973 because of various impairments, including numbness in her right leg, a bad back, and nerves. The applications were allowed at the initial level, but her entitlements were subsequently terminated by the Social Security Administration after it was determined that her disability ceased in May 1975. The administrative law judge considered the case de novo, and found that Ward’s disability had ceased in May 1975 and that her entitlement to benefits ended at the close of the two-month statutory grace period in July 1975. The decision of the administrative law judge became the final decision of the Secretary when adopted by the Appeals Council on August 5, 1976, and Ward initiated this action seeking judicial review, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g), in the district court for the Southern District of California.

The district court remanded the case to the Secretary because of procedural errors committed by the administrative law judge. On November 29, 1978, after the consideration of additional evidence, the Social…