Covucci v. Apfel

31 F. App'x 909
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 3, 2002
DocketNo. 00-4058
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 31 F. App'x 909 (Covucci v. Apfel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Covucci v. Apfel, 31 F. App'x 909 (6th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HEYBURN, Chief District Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant Gregory Covucci appeals the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security as affirmed by the magistrate judge, denying his application for disability benefits. Covucci also claims that his representation by a paralegal at an administrative hearing constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons stated in this Memorandum Opinion, we AFFIRM.

I.

In February 1994, Gregory Covucci, then thirty years old, was injured at work when a stack of patio chairs fell and struck him in the head and right shoulder. Since then, he claims to have suffered immense physical pain and manifested evidence of psychological disorders. In July 1994, he [911]*911applied for disability insurance benefits available under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i) and 423. The Social Security Administration (the “Agency”) denied his request. Covucci requested and was granted a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Covucci, with paralegal Mary Katherine Klas as his legal representative, appeared at the hearing on May 8,1997.

The ALJ began by admitting into the record thirty exhibits, primarily the results of various physical and psychological evaluations of Covucci since his injury. Covucci testified that he had no feeling in his right arm and right leg. Covucci also stated his belief that his doctors had misdiagnosed him, failing to appreciate or to remedy the decline in his health.

Covucci’s advocate stated her disagreement with certain diagnoses and requested that a consultative examination be performed. Initially, the ALJ denied the request, remarking that Covucci had evidently been “going from doctor to doctor, until he finds one who satisfies him.” Klas suggested that her client suffered from a somatoform disorder,1 as evidenced by “his obsession with his medical condition and his paranoia about the conspiracy” that doctors whose fees were paid by Covucci’s former employer or the Agency would necessarily pronounce his condition to be better than it actually was.

Next, the ALJ and Klas questioned Dr. Elaine Tripi, a vocational expert. Asking Tripi to assume that Covucci had a somatic disorder, the ALJ inquired of Tripi how severe that disorder must be to prevent Covucci from working in a simple, unskilled job. Tripi responded that a person with a somatic disorder causing mild or moderate functional limitations would be eligible to perform “simple unskilled bench work,” and that jobs of that type numbered three thousand in Toledo (where Covucci lives) and nine thousand in Ohio. A person with major functional limitations, she testified, would not be able to function in such employment. The hearing concluded after the ALJ offered to withhold his decision until Covucci could submit the results of another consultative examination.

On November 22,1997, the ALJ issued a decision, in which he found that Covucci had dysthymia,2 depression, and back pain, but not a severe impairment which significantly limited him from obtaining all work. Covucci, though unable to perform his past work as an area manager and sales representative, had the functional capacity to accept work which did not require extensive concentration or routine dealings with co-workers or the general public, work such as sorting, packaging, and assembling. The ALJ stated that he found Covucci’s testimony regarding his pain and functional incapacity not credible in light of the overall medical record.

Covucci timely appealed to the Agency’s Appeals Council, which denied his request, making the Agency’s decision final. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), Covucci then sought judicial review in the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, which affirmed the decision. Covucci now appeals to this Court.

[912]*912II.

Where the proper legal standards have been employed, this Court’s review is limited to determining whether substantial evidence supports the Agency’s findings. Cutlip v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 25 F.3d 284, 286 (6th Cir.1994). Substantial evidence means “more than a scintilla of evidence but less than a preponderance; it is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. This deferential standard means that a reviewing court “may not try the case de novo, nor resolve conflicts in evidence, nor decide questions of credibility.” Garner v. Heckler, 745 F.2d 383, 387 (6th Cir.1984). Indeed, “[i]f it is supported by substantial evidence, the [Agency’s] determination must stand regardless of whether the reviewing court would resolve the issues of fact in dispute differently.” Bogle v. Sullivan, 998 F.2d 342, 347 (6th Cir.1993).

A.

Covucci claims that his representation by a paralegal at the administrative hearing constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The ALJ, in a notice of hearing dated March 4, 1996, and in an amended notice of hearing dated March 25, 1997, apprised Covucci of his right to representation, in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 406(c). Further, Covucci had retained counsel at earlier stages in his application and appeal processes. Whatever right to counsel Covucci had at the hearing, he intelligently waived it. We find no basis for remanding this case based upon a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.

B.

Covucci’s main argument is that the ALJ improperly weighed the medical evidence before him, relying insufficiently on the opinions of Covucci’s psychiatrist, Dr. David Jahn, who opined that Covucci’s depression rendered him unable to work; Dr. Jon Pansky, who examined Covucci after the hearing and also found him mentally unable to work; and Dr. Gordon Mather, a treating physician who perceived substantial physical limitations.

To support his argument that the ALJ accorded insufficient weight to Dr. Jahn’s opinion, Covucci cites 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(d)(2), which remarks that the Social Security Administration generally

give[s] more weight to opinions from your treating sources, since these sources are likely to be the medical professionals most able to provide a detailed, longitudinal picture of your medical impairment(s) and may bring a unique perspective to the medical evidence that cannot be obtained from the objective medical findings alone or from reports of individual examinations, such as consultative examinations or brief hospitalizations.

Controlling weight, however, is appropriate only if the opinion “is well-supported by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques and is not inconsistent with the other substantial evidence in [the] case record.” Id.

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Related

Wert v. Commissioner of Social Security
166 F. Supp. 3d 935 (S.D. Ohio, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
31 F. App'x 909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/covucci-v-apfel-ca6-2002.