Norman J. FIOLA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee
Opinion
Opinion
Under 42 U.S.C. § 402 (d)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act, persons who have been disabled since childhood may receive benefits as secondary beneficiaries of fully insured wage-earning parents. This case concerns the eligibility for benefits of disabled secondary beneficiaries who have married and subsequently divorced. Plaintiff Norman Fióla has been disabled since childhood. Fióla received benefits from 1958 until his marriage in 1980 to a person not receiving benefits rendered him ineligible under 42 U.S.C. § 402 (d)(1)(D). The marriage ended in 1983 and Fióla applied for benefits again. The Social Security Act provides that formerly-married individuals whose child’s insurance benefits have been terminated may again become eligible “provided no event specified in paragraph (1)(D) has occurred.” 42 U.S.C. § 402 (d)(6). Because paragraph (1)(D) refers to the marriage of the recipient, the Secretary ruled Fióla was not eligible for reinstatement. Under the Secretary’s interpretation of the Act, a person whose child insurance benefits are terminated due to marriage may never become reentitled to those benefits.