Brooks v. Commissioner of Social Security

207 F. Supp. 3d 361, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126358, 2016 WL 4940208
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 15, 2016
Docket15 Civ. 4707 (GWG)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 207 F. Supp. 3d 361 (Brooks v. Commissioner of Social Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. Commissioner of Social Security, 207 F. Supp. 3d 361, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126358, 2016 WL 4940208 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Plaintiff Michele Laverne Brooks brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for judicial review of the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security (“Commissioner”) denying her claim for Social Security Disability benefits under the Social Security Act. The Commissioner has moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c).1 For the reasons stated below, the Commissioner’s motion is granted.2

1. BACKGROUND

A. Brooks’s Claim for Benefits and Procedural History

Brooks applied for disability benefits on October 17, 2011. See Administrative Record, filed Jan. 6,2016 (Docket #20) (“R.”), at 70. She alleged that her disability began on April 1, 2011. R. 128. The Social Security Administration denied her claim on February 7, 2012. R. 72-74. Brooks requested a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”), see R. 78-79, and appeared for a hearing before ALJ Gal Lahat on January 7, 2013, R. 33. At that time, she was represented by Aaron Vega, [364]*364an attorney. Id. The hearing is described in greater detail below.

The ALJ denied Brooks’s claim in a written decision issued on February 22, 2013. R. 12-27. The Appeals Council denied review on April 23, 2015. R. 1-3. Brooks then filed this action pro se. See Complaint, dated June 16, 2015 (Docket #2) (“Complaint”).

B. The Hearing Before the ALJ

At the hearing, Brooks testified that she lived alone in an apartment in Jamaica, New York. R. 37. She finished the eleventh grade. R. 38. She completed a “business computer kind of class” in 2007. Id. Brooks testified that she was five feet, four inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. R. 61.

Brooks worked for the New York City School Construction Authority for two years, ending in 2010. R. 38-39. This job involved checking the references of contractors who were bidding to work on New York City schools, R. 39. This was a temporary job. Id. She stopped working there when “the job phased out” because the Authority “had run out of money.” R. 41. The job involved telephone conversations and filing. R. 65.

Before working at the New York City School Construction Authority, Brooks had worked for New York Electrical from 1999 until 2007. R. 39. She testified that she “started as a temp ... and worked [her] way up to office manager.” Id This job’s duties included “data entry,” preparing conference rooms for courses offered by her employer, making travel arrangements, and planning events. R. 39-40. Brooks estimated that she worked from eight to ten hours a day at this job. See R. 40. She testified that “out of the eight hours [she] might have sat maybe two hours,” with the rest of the time standing, id., and that she would occasionally have to send packages of “Approximately ten pounds,” R. 41.

After losing her job at the New York City School Construction Authority, Brooks said that she did not get a new job “because of [her] age,” because she lacked a bachelor’s or associate’s degree, and “then [she] became sick.” R. 41-42.

Brooks became aware of her disability when she “went to the dentist to have a tooth removed, and they put [her] under. And they had to bring [her] back and send [her] to the hospital” because of her high blood pressure. R. 42. After this incident, she testified that she went to the doctor and “found out [she] had high blood pressure and then the Hepatitis C and then a whole bunch of other stuff.” Id. Brooks testified that she suffers from “osteoarthritis in [her] right knee,” and that “just recently [she] was diagnosed with a pinched nerve in [her] back.” Id.

Brooks related that her pinched nerve gave her back pain, which affected how long she was able to sit still. Id. She said that she could sit for “[n]o longer than about 10,15 minutes, the most.” R. 43. She also said that she could only stand “[f]or approximately—again, between 10,15 minutes, the most.” R. 44. She described feeling pain down her “whole right side.” R. 43. Brooks stated that her right knee “swells every day,” but she does not take any medication for it. R. 44.

Brooks then testified about her kidney disease. Id. She complained that her kidney disease “keeps me from being alert. Like the medication that I’m on, it makes me tired.” Id. She “sleep[s] half the day” and “forget[s] stuff.” Id.

Brooks testified that she spent her days lying down “anywhere from five to six hours.” R. 45. She “[m]ostly sle[pt]” with the television on during this time. Id. She has trouble sleeping at night, either waking up early or during the night because her “back is hurting and [she has] to take medication so [she] can go back to sleep.” Id. She took Ambien to help her sleep. Id.

[365]*365Brooks testified that her high blood pressure medicine had adverse side effects, including “forget[ting] a lot,” making her “tired all the time,” and making her unable to “concentrate correctly.” Id.

The ALJ noted that Dr. Jianjun Li,3 one of Brooks’s doctors, indicated that she had “chronic fatigue.” R. 46. Brooks explained that this meant that she was “tired all the time.” Id As to Dr. Li’s notation that Brooks suffered from “body aches,” Brooks stated that she suffered from these body aches “[a]ll day” and that they were “[ejxcruciating.” Id.

Brooks said that she has to “wait for one of my friends to come ... if I need to go shopping. Because I can’t really lift and put away my groceries.” Id. Brooks admitted cooking once a week to last the whole week. R. 47. She testified that a “friend usually comes and does” house work for her, but she can “do it in spurts” by herself, resting after each task. Id. A friend helped her with laundry. Id.

Brooks said she was capable of taking public transit, but that she “tr[ies] not to.” See R. 47-48. She said, “I don’t visit anybody. I don’t go anywhere,” and “doing the stairs is not good for me.” R. 48. She said she only takes public transportation “if I have to go to the doctor or like I had to come [to the ALJ hearing] today.” R. 48. She denied doing any social activities, which she had enjoyed in the past, because she lacked the “energy” and “concentration,” saying that she was “just not interested.” Id.

Brooks testified that she had collected unemployment benefits between July 2010 and April 2012. R. 49. She acknowledged that, to collect those benefits, she had “certified] that [she was] ready, able and willing to work.” See id. She said that her condition “wasn’t as bad” while she was collecting unemployment and that she was “trying to still try to find a job” so she could “at least pay [her] bills.” R. 50. Since that time, her condition “seemed to have gotten worse.” Id. Brooks told the ALJ that she looked for jobs as an “[o]ffice manager, receptionist, [or in] customer service” while collecting unemployment. R. 51. When the ALJ asked if she “believe[d] [she] would have been able to do that work,” Brooks responded that she “would have tried.” Id.

Turning to Brooks’s medical conditions, Brooks reported that she found out about her high blood pressure in April 2011. Id. At around that time, she visited Dr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 F. Supp. 3d 361, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126358, 2016 WL 4940208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-commissioner-of-social-security-nysd-2016.