Combs v. Kijakazi

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 22, 2022
Docket3:20-cv-50367
StatusUnknown

This text of Combs v. Kijakazi (Combs v. Kijakazi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Combs v. Kijakazi, (N.D. Ill. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS WESTERN DIVISION

Brandon C., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) Case No. 3:20-cv-50367 v. ) ) Magistrate Judge Lisa A. Jensen Kilolo Kijakazi, ) Acting Commissioner of Social Security,1 ) ) Defendant. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Brandon C. brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) seeking reversal or a remand of the decision denying him social security benefits.2 For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is granted, the Commissioner’s motion is denied, and the case is reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. Background On September 1, 2013, Plaintiff attempted suicide by cutting his right wrist. R. 382, 386. While in the emergency room, Plaintiff told the medical professionals and staff that the injury was a result of him being “drunk and stupid.” R. 384. Nonetheless, a psychiatric consultation was ordered, and the psychiatrist concluded that Plaintiff had attempted suicide, citing his anxiety, restlessness, and psychosocial stressors. R. 386, 388. Plaintiff underwent surgery to repair his wrist on September 2, 2013. R. 394. Following the surgery, he attended occupational therapy for his hand between September and November 2013. R. 372, 377. He also attended a psychiatry

1 Kilolo Kijakazi has been substituted for Andrew Marshall Saul. Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). 2 The parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a United States Magistrate Judge for all proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). appointment on December 10, 2013. R. 550. However, the administrative record contains no other medical records for the next three-and-a-half years, until July 2017. See R. 460. Plaintiff testified that he did not seek and was resistant to treatment for his mental health or wrist injury because he was in a “dark place” and wanted to die. R. 52, 53, 60, 104. He also

cited these reasons to a mental health professional at Rosecrance. R. 574. Plaintiff testified that the worst part of his mental health crisis period began around his September 2013 suicide attempt and lasted through the summer of 2014. R. 53-54. Plaintiff testified that, during this timeframe, he attempted suicide on several other occasions using different methods. R. 71-74; see R. 565. Plaintiff testified that his two childhood friends moved into his home in 2016 to help save his home from foreclosure, R. 54-55, and that they are the ones who were able to convince him to seek medical help, R. 97, 278. Plaintiff began seeing a licensed clinical social worker at Crusader Clinic in September 2017, who diagnosed him with depression and anxiety. R. 457-58. That same month, the provider at Crusader Clinic also began encouraging Plaintiff to seek more comprehensive mental health treatment through Rosecrance. R. 432, 440, 446, 718, 728. Plaintiff

finally began treatment through Rosecrance over a year later, in October 2018, where he was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Avoidant Personality Disorder. R. 563, 574, 592. Since beginning mental health treatment in 2017, Plaintiff’s providers have increased and changed his medications on a number of occasions, R. 425, 429, 437, 699, 713, 733. As of the date of the hearing, Plaintiff was taking three medications for his mental health conditions. R. 83. On November 2, 2017, Plaintiff filed an application for disability benefits and, on August 22, 2019, he filed an application for supplemental security income (“SSI”). In both applications, he alleged disability beginning March 1, 2014, and his date last insured (“DLI”) was December 31, 2016. He was 39 years old at the time he filed his disability benefits application and 41 at the time he filed his SSI application. His claim was denied initially and upon reconsideration. Thereafter, he filed a written request for a hearing. The hearing was held on September 6, 2019. Following the hearing, an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) issued a decision on October

30, 2019, finding that Plaintiff was not disabled. R. 147-160. The ALJ found that Plaintiff had the following severe impairments: anxiety; avoidant personality disorder; and depressive disorder. R. 149. The ALJ determined that Plaintiff’s impairments did not meet or medically equal a listed impairment. R. 151. The ALJ concluded that Plaintiff had the residual functional capacity (“RFC”) to perform a full range of work at all exertional levels but with the following non-exertional limitations: no more than frequent handling, fingering, feeling, or gross and fine manipulation with the dominant right upper extremity; the ability to learn, understand, and carry out simple and detailed work instructions, make simple work-related decisions, and tolerate occasional changes in a routine work setting; no high production-rate pace requirements; no more than brief, superficial, and occasional interaction with co-workers and the general public as required by the

work; no team or tandem work; customary or usual supervision found in unskilled work environments; sustain any necessary concentration, persistence or pace in 2 hour increments throughout the typical workday. R. 153. The ALJ determined that Plaintiff could not perform his past relevant work, but there were other jobs that existed in significant numbers in the national economy that he could perform, including picker, automobile detailer, and industrial cleaner. R. 158-59. Plaintiff appealed the ALJ’s decision to this Court on September 28, 2020. II. Standard of Review A reviewing court may enter judgment “affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the [Commissioner], with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing.” 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). If supported by substantial evidence, the Commissioner’s factual findings are conclusive. Id. Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Biestek v. Berryhill, 139 S. Ct. 1148, 1154 (2019) (citations omitted). “An ALJ need not specifically address every piece of evidence, but must provide a ‘logical bridge’

between the evidence and his conclusions.” Butler v. Kijakazi, 4 F.4th 498, 501 (7th Cir. 2021) (citations omitted). The reviewing court may not “reweigh the evidence, resolve debatable evidentiary conflicts, determine credibility, or substitute [its] judgment for the ALJ’s determination so long as substantial evidence supports it.” Gedatus v. Saul, 994 F.3d 893, 900 (7th Cir. 2021). III. Discussion Plaintiff argues that: (1) the state agency physicians failed to properly obtain and review the evidence; (2) the ALJ disregarded evidence that supports a finding of severe mental and physical impairments, including Plaintiff’s explanation for failing to continue treatment for his wrist or seek mental health treatment; and (3) the ALJ played doctor and failed to obtain a medical

expert at the hearing. For the reasons discussed below, the Court agrees that remand is required because the ALJ’s subjective symptoms analysis relied on an improper evaluation of Plaintiff’s explanation for his lack of treatment, the ALJ played doctor, and the ALJ cherry-picked evidence. A.

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Combs v. Kijakazi, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/combs-v-kijakazi-ilnd-2022.