Hermes v. Secretary of Health & Human Services

In November 1987, Fred Hermes (plaintiff) applied for social-security retirement benefits, claiming that his birthday was May 21, 1925. The Social Security Administration (SSA) denied the application, concluding that Hermes’s birthday was November 21, 1928, and he had therefore not yet reached the eligibility age of 62. Hermes asked for reconsideration, but the application was again denied. Hermes then filed for review by an administrative-law judge (ALJ). At a hearing, Hermes presented evidence that he had previously listed birthdates ranging from 1925 to 1930 on various records, never intending to defraud but wanting to appear younger. Claiming that May 21, 1925, was his real birthdate, Hermes presented a religious birth record from Iraq that listed that date. However, the document was not recorded until 1981. Additionally, the SSA’s guidelines warned against relying on Iraqi religious records because often no records existed, and local parishes were willing to generate records upon request. Consequently, the ALJ did not give credence to the religious birth record. Instead, the ALJ relied upon the oldest record that listed a birthdate corroborated by other sources. Hermes’s college record, which was recorded in 1954, listed Hermes’s birthdate as November 21, 1928, and that date was corroborated by Hermes’s marriage certificate, a later-filed SSA record, and his certificate of naturalization. Consequently, the ALJ upheld the SSA’s finding that Hermes’s birthdate was November 21, 1987, and he was therefore not eligible for benefits. The SSA’s appeals council denied review, rendering the ALJ’s judgment a final decision of the secretary of health and human services (secretary) (defendant). Hermes sued the secretary in federal district court, challenging the final decision. The district court upheld the SSA’s decision, and Hermes appealed to the Ninth Circuit.