John Easley v. Robert H. Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge:

The Secretary appeals from the District Court’s decision holding the doctrine of administrative res judicata inapplicable to the plaintiff’s application for review of his claim of disability and ordering the payment of disability benefits. We reverse.

Easley has filed four separate applications for Social Security disability benefits. The first, filed in October 1960, claimed disability as of December 1959 due to asthma. His last employment was listed as having terminated on January 1, 1960. No review was sought after the application was denied initially. 1

A second…