France v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

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3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 TACOMA DIVISION

10 PATRICIA M. FRANCE, Civil No. 3:21-CV-05466-MAT 11 Plaintiff,

12 vs. ORDER 13 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

14 Defendant.

15 Based on the stipulation of the parties, it is ORDERED that the Commissioner’s 16 decision in regard to Plaintiff’s application for benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act 17 be REVERSED and REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security for further 18 administrative proceedings. Upon remand, the Appeals Council will instruct the Administrative 19 Law Judge to further evaluate the medical opinions in the record; further evaluate Plaintiff’s 20 residual functional capacity; complete the administrative record; and issue a new decision. 21 Further, the Appeals Council will direct that, upon remand, this case be assigned to another 22 Administrative Law Judge. 23 This Court hereby reverses the Commissioner’s decision under sentence four of 42 24 U.S.C. § 405(g) with a remand of the case to the Commissioner for further administrative 1 proceedings. See Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991). Plaintiff may be entitled to 2 reasonable attorney fees and costs pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2412, upon proper request to this 3 Court. 4 DATED this 1st day of March, 2022. 5 A 6 7 MARY ALICE THEILER 8 United States Magistrate Judge

11 Presented by: 12 s/ Shata L. Stucky 13 SHATA L. STUCKY Special Assistant United States Attorney 14 Office of the General Counsel Social Security Administration 15 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2900 M/S 221A Seattle, WA 98104-7050 16 Telephone: (206) 615-2909 Fax: (206) 615-2531 17 shata.stucky@ssa.gov

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