Marion Chapman v. Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security Administration

RYMER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to decide whether the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration properly denied disability benefits to a claimant for whom earnings records showed neither self-employment income nor wages for sufficient “quarters of coverage.” 1

Marion Chapman applied for disability benefits when he broke his pelvis in a tractor accident July 26, 1994. Social security records indicated that he did not pay in every year and that there were gaps in his earnings record for 1988-1990. His application was denied initially and upon reconsideration. At a hearing…