Chudy v. Colvin

10 F. Supp. 3d 203, 2014 WL 1345402, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47492
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 4, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 12-30210-KPN
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 10 F. Supp. 3d 203 (Chudy v. Colvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chudy v. Colvin, 10 F. Supp. 3d 203, 2014 WL 1345402, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47492 (D. Mass. 2014).

Opinion

FURTHER MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR ORDER REVERSING THE COMMISSIONERS DECISION and DEFENDANTS MOTION TO AFFIRM THE COMMISSIONERS DECISION (Document Nos. 15 and 19)

NEIMAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

This is a case in which dates are paramount. It also involves two programs— Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”) and Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) — which have the same definition of disability.

I. Background

On February 12, 2014, the court denied without prejudice both of the above captioned motions concerning Plaintiffs application for SSDI benefits. (Memorandum and Order (Document No. 26).) In doing so, the court took particular notice of footnote 7 in the Commissioner’s brief in which she acknowledged that the subsequent approval of Plaintiffs SSI application, filed in April of 2012, was going to be reopened since that “allowance did not take into account the fact that the plaintiff was credited with a February 2009 filing date for SSI purposes.” (Commissioner’s Memorandum in Support of Motion to Affirm (Document No. 20), at 19.) The February 2009 date was the same date as Plaintiffs application for SSDI. Accordingly, the Commissioner indicated, she would be reopening the SSI case “to determine whether the medical evidence supports an earlier onset date of disability” (id.) and, thus, potentially significant retroactive SSI benefits. The court believed that was a prudent approach and expressed its áppreciation for the Commissioner’s recognition of this potential error.

The Commissioner, however, went on in that same footnote to limit the possible earlier _ onset date of Plaintiffs disability (for SSI purposes) to “some point after the period adjudicated by the [administrative law judge] in the instant case (i.e., between July '2009 and April 2012),” citing 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1487-1489 as authority for that limitation. (Id.) The court saw no basis for such a limitation in the cited regulations, which simply govern the conditions for reopening and reviewing determinations made in the administrative review process. The court explained that nowhere do those regulations provide for the particular limitation which the Commissioner had imposed on the possible retroactive award of SSI benefits. Given the [205]*205fact that the Commissioner was prepared to honor the protective filing date, the court continued, the regulations would appear to require that she determine whether the evidence supports an onset date as early as February 17, 2009.

The court also indicated that an earlier onset date, if proven, could affect Plaintiffs SSDI case presently at bar. After all, the court explained, one significant aspect of the instant matter concerns Plaintiffs failure to convince the Commissioner that he was disabled prior to the expiration of his insured status on June 30, 2009, a little more than four months after the date of his application. Accordingly, the court ordered the Commissioner, by March 5, 2014, to report in writing whether or not she had already reconsidered the onset date in the reopened SSI case (footnote 7 being part of a memorandum filed on June 12, 2013) and, if so, what onset date was established. If the Commissioner’s reconsideration had not yet taken place, the court continued, it would be prepared to remand the instant matter to be considered jointly with the SSI issue identified by the Commissioner in footnote 7.

II. The Commissioner’s Report

In response to the court’s February 12, 2014 Memorandum and Order, the Commissioner filed a supplemental report which indicated that the Disability Determination Services (“DDS”) had reconsidered the onset date in the open SSI case in a revised determination dated June 27, 2013. (Response to Court Order (Document No. 27) at 1.) That was about two weeks after the Commissioner had notified the court that such a reconsideration was in process. The DDS, the Commissioner reported, established a new disability onset date of July 1, 2009.(Id.) The Commissioner also reported that this determination-had been selected for review by the Office of Quality Review (“OQR”) but indicated, as well, that the OQR had completed its review and that “the determination is now pending effectuation with the Social Security Field Office that services the [Pjlaintiff.” (Id.) The court takes this to mean that the disability onset date of July 1, 2009, has been adopted.

Again, July 1, 2009 is one day after the expiration of Plaintiffs insured status for SSDI eligibility. The Commissioner explained that this onset date was controlled by her Program Operations Manual System (“POMS”), which in applicable part provides as follows: “After a civil action has been filed on a prior application, we cannot take adjudicative action for the period already considered in the last administrative decision of the Commissioner (i.e., the period pending judicial review).” POMS DI 20101.025E. (Id. at 2.)1

III. Discussion

The Commissioner asserts that the POMS directive is controlling with respect to the instant SSDI matter. She argues that the mere fact that a claimant has been deemed disabled at a later date— even the day after the date of in eligibility established by a previous administrative decision — does not provide grounds for remanding the previous decision. The Commissioner also relies on Allen v. Commissioner of Social Security, 561 F.3d 646, 653 (6th Cir.2009), which held that “the mere existence of [a] subsequent decision in [the claimant’s] favor, standing alone, cannot be evidence that can change the outcome of his prior proceeding.” See [206]*206also Perry v. Astrue, 2012 WL 645890, at *11-12 (D.Mass. Feb. 7, 2012).

The Commissioner argues as well that, even if the court were inclined to reject the POMS and Allen limitations, substantial evidence supports the previous decision that Plaintiff was 'not disabled' for SSDI purposes as of June 80, 2009. In support, the Commissioner cites, among other things, this court’s own musings in its Feb-, ruary 12, 2014 Memorandum and Order that the Commissioner appears to have “the better arguments with regard to the various grounds on which Plaintiff seeks reversal and/or remand, of the denial of his application for [SSDI] benefits.” For the reasons which follow, the court finds neither of the Commissioner’s arguments persuasive.

As the Commissioner accurately maintains, however, Allen does stand for the proposition that “a subsequent favorable decision itself, as opposed to the evidence supporting the subsequent decision, does not constitute new and material evidence under § 405(g),” such as to enable a plaintiff to meet his burden of showing that a remand is proper. Allen, 561 F.3d at 653. Nonetheless, there are some distinguishing features to the instant matter. For one, in Allen, the decision approving the claimant’s subsequent application for benefits found him disabled as of September 12, 2006, the day after the initial administrative law judge’s adverse decision.

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Related

Walters v. Colvin
213 F. Supp. 3d 1223 (N.D. California, 2016)
Chudy v. Colvin
68 F. Supp. 3d 242 (D. Massachusetts, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 F. Supp. 3d 203, 2014 WL 1345402, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chudy-v-colvin-mad-2014.