Christopher Hearn v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration

619 F. App'x 892
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 31, 2015
Docket14-15261
StatusUnpublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 619 F. App'x 892 (Christopher Hearn v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Christopher Hearn v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration, 619 F. App'x 892 (11th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Christopher Hearn appeals from the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner’s denial of his application for a period of supplemental social security income ‘under 42 U.S.C. § 406(g). Hearn argues that the Appeals Council inadequately reviewed the new evidence that he submitted and should have remanded the case to the administrative law judge (“ALJ”); that the district court erred by not remanding the case based on that same evidence; that the ALJ failed to consider his impairments in combination and failed to consider all of his severe impairments; that the ALJ improperly substituted his own opinion for that of Hearn’s examining doctor; and that the ALJ did not include all of Hearn’s impairments in the hypothetical question to the vocational expert. Finding no error, we affirm.

We review the Commissioner’s decision with deference to the factual findings and close scrutiny of the legal conclusions. Ingram v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec. Admin., 496 F.3d 1253, 1260 (11th Cir.2007). The Commissioner’s factual findings are conclusive if supported by “substantial evidence,” which is relevant evidence as a reasonable person would accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Id. Even if the evidence preponderates against the Commissioner’s factual findings, we must affirm if the decision is supported by substantial evidence.' Id. Because the Appeals Council’s refusal to consider a submission of new evidence before denying review amounts to an error of law, that decision is subject to judicial review, Keeton v. Dep’t of Health & Human Sews., 21 F.3d 1064, 1066 (11th Cir.1994), which we review de novo, Ingram, 496 F.3d at 1260. When a claimant' properly presents new evidence to the Appeals Council and it denies review, we essentially consider the claimant’s evidence anew to determine whether “that new evidence renders the denial of bene: fits erroneous.” See id. at 1262. A district court’s determination of whether a remand is necessary is reviewed de novo. Vega v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 265 F.3d 1214, 1218 (11th Cir.2001).

I. New evidence

With a few exceptions, a claimant is allowed to present new evidence at each *894 stage of the administrative process. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1470(b). If new and material evidence is submitted, the Appeals Council must consider the additional evidence that relates to the period on or before the date of the ALJ’s hearing decision. Id. The Appeals Council must then evaluate the entire record, including any new and material evidence submitted, and must then review the case if it finds that the ALJ’s action, findings, or conclusion is contrary to the weight of the evidence currently of record. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1470(b).

Hearn’s reliance on Epps v. Harris, 624 F.2d 1267 (5th Cir.1980), to argue that the Appeals Council must show in its written denial that it has adequately evaluated the new evidence is misplaced in light of the recent decision in Parks ex rel D.P. v. Comm’r, Soc. Sec. Admin., 783 F.3d 847, 853 (11th Cir.2015). The Appeals Council denied the request for review here, as it had done in Parks, as opposed to affirming the decision of the ALJ, as had occurred in Epps. “Epps has little bearing on a denial of a request for review.” Parks, 783 F.3d at 853. Bowen v. Heckler, 748 F.2d 629, 634 (11th Cir.1984), also cited by Hearn, “is inapposite too.” Parks, 783 F.3d at 853. The Appeals Council did not err in its action notice.

Where a claimant seeks review of the Commissioner’s final decision, the district court has two methods — each addressing a different problem — for remanding a case back to the Commissioner under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Ingram, 496 F.3d at 1261. These are known as “sentence four remands” and “sentence six remands.” Id.

The fourth sentence of § 405(g) provides a federal court the “power to enter, upon the pleadings and transcript of the record, a judgment affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing.” 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). A sentence four remand is “based upon a determination that the Commissioner erred in some respect in reaching the decision to deny benefits,” Jackson v. Chater, 99 F.3d 1086, 1095 (11th Cir.1996), and is applicable when evidence was properly before the Commissioner, but “the Appeals Council did not adequately consider the additional evidence,” Ingram, 496 F.3d at 1268. To obtain a sentence four remand, the claimant must show that, in light of the new evidence submitted to the Appeals Council, the ALJ’s decision to deny benefits is not supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole. See id. at 1266-67. Hearn’s brief falls far short of accomplishing this; the brief only suggests that the new submissions “could bear” on his condition during the relevant time period.

The sixth sentence of § 405(g) provides a federal court the power to remand the application for benefits to the Commissioner for the taking of additional evidence upon a showing “that there is new evidence which is material and that there is good cause for the failure to incorporate such evidence into the record in a prior proceeding.” Id. at 1261. Evidence is material if it is relevant and probative so that there is a reasonable possibility that it would change the administrative result. See Hyde v. Bowen, 823 F.2d 456, 459 (11th Cir.1987). Hearn’s brief contains only conclusory statements about the materiality of any new evidence. Thus, Hearn has failed to justify remand under the sixth sentence of § 405(g).

II. Impairments

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Bluebook (online)
619 F. App'x 892, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/christopher-hearn-v-commissioner-social-security-administration-ca11-2015.