Carey Cyree v. Kilolo Kijakazi

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: June 7, 2023
• Docket: 22-35462
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 7 2023 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CAREY CYREE, No. 22-35462

Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 4:21-cv-05069-TOR

v. MEMORANDUM* KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of Social Security,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Thomas O. Rice, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted June 5, 2023** Seattle, Washington

Before: SCHROEDER, HAWKINS, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.

Carey Cyree appeals the Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) decision that

there was no medical evidence of a physical or mental impairment from the period

of January 1, 2010 through the date last insured of December 31, 2013. We have

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We must decide whether the ALJ’s decision

to deny disability benefits at step two, based on the finding that Cyree was not

disabled during the relevant period, is supported by substantial evidence.

Cyree bears the burden of proof at step two to establish entitlement to

disability insurance benefits. See Valentine v. Comm’r Soc. Sec. Admin., 574 F.3d

685, 689 (9th Cir. 2009). The Social Security Administration’s regulations specify

that a physical or mental impairment “must be established by objective medical

evidence from an acceptable medical source” and cannot be established by “your

statement of symptoms, a diagnosis, or a medical opinion[.]” 20 C.F.R. §

404.1521. The record here contains no medical evidence to substantiate the

existence of an impairment. See Ukolov v. Barnhart, 420 F.3d 1002, 1006 (9th Cir.

2005) (holding that Ukolov failed to meet his burden to establish disability at step

two as “none of the medical opinions included a finding of impairment, a

diagnosis, or objective test results”).

Cyree further contends that the ALJ failed to determine an established onset

date pursuant to SSR 18-1p. However, SSR 18-1p does not apply because an

established onset date must be determined only if the ALJ finds that the claimant

met the statutory definition of disability. See SSR 18-01p (S.S.A.), 2018 WL

4945639, at *2 (Oct. 2, 2018).

Page 2 of 3 Therefore, the ALJ’s decision that Cyree did not establish disability during

the relevant period is supported by the record. In the absence of any medical

evidence of disability, Cyree’s contentions that the ALJ should have conducted

further analysis are without merit.

AFFIRMED.

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