27 soc.sec.rep.ser. 313, unempl.ins.rep. Cch 14915a Charles Briggs v. Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.

Charles Briggs suffers from a disabling mental impairment, a condition which renders him eligible to receive disability payments from the federal government. Because of the nature of his impairment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, appellee Louis Sullivan (“the Secretary”), has decided that his federal benefits payments should be paid to a representative, who would act essentially as a trustee for Briggs, paying his basic expenses and giving him money as necessary and prudent. Robert Pierce, another appellant in this case, is also disabled. Because his benefits constitute “Supplemental Security Income payments” and because his disability stems in part from alcohol or drug addiction, the Secretary is required by statute to make the payments in which he is entitled to a representative rather than to him directly.

Briggs, Pierce, and the other appellants in this action have either been unable to find representatives satisfactory to the Secretary and have thus received no payments, or have had their payments suspended when, for a variety of reasons, their current representatives could no longer continue in that role. In several instances, beneficiary-appellants have been…