Bahija JABBAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee

Abed Jabbar, an immigrant with a wife and two young children, was killed in a traffic accident on February 17, 1979, at age 22. Abed’s widow, Bahija Jabbar, filed for surviving child’s insurance benefits and mother’s insurance benefits based on her husband’s employment record. The Secretary ruled that Abed did not have enough quarters of coverage to qualify his wife and children for benefits, based on the Secretary’s rejection of claimed “self-employment income” for 1977 and 1978. The Secretary reached this decision despite the existence of income tax returns, which Abed had filed with the…