No. 99-11830 August 8, 2000. Jim Waide, Tupelo, MS, for Claimant-Appellant. Shirley McCarty, James D. Ingram, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. (No. CV-96-HM-216-J. E.B. Haltom, Jr., Judge. Before EDMONDSON, HULL and WOOD, Circuit Judges. Honorable Harlington Wood, Jr., U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, sitting by designation. HARLINGTON WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge: This case began in 1993 when the United