Maddox v. Heckler

619 F. Supp. 930, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20900, 11 Soc. Serv. Rev. 709
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 28, 1984
DocketNo. CIV-81-71-D
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 619 F. Supp. 930 (Maddox v. Heckler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maddox v. Heckler, 619 F. Supp. 930, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20900, 11 Soc. Serv. Rev. 709 (W.D. Okla. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAUGHERTY, District Judge.

POSTURE OF THE CASE

The Plaintiff has brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), seeking judicial review of the final administrative decision of the Defendant Secretary that the Plaintiff is not entitled to a period of disability or disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. The Secretary filed her Answer, accompanied by the certified transcript of the administrative record of the case upon which her decision was based, and both sides have fully briefed the case, which is thus submitted for decision on the pleadings and the briefs of the parties.

Plaintiff filed her application for disability benefits under Title II and for supplemental security income benefits under Title XVI on September 6,1978, alleging disability due to emphysema, asthma, grand mal seizures, and abdominal hernia (Tr. 52).1 These claims were denied administratively, both initially and on reconsideration (Tr. 86-93). Upon Plaintiffs request, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the Social Security Administration considered her [932]*932claim de novo and conducted a full hearing on January 8, 1980 (Tr. 25-51), at which the Plaintiff and her doctor, A.A. Cooperman, D.O., appeared. The ALJ issued a recommended decision on March 6, 1980, denying her claim for disability benefits (Tr. 14-19). On the same day, the ALJ issued a decision allowing the claim for supplemental security income (Tr. 315). For each of these decisions, the ALJ had to determine whether the Plaintiff was disabled, and the standard for that determination is the same under both Title II and Title XVI, but the two determinations depend on her being disabled at different dates. So, for purposes of the supplemental security income decision, the ALJ determined that the Plaintiff was disabled as of the date of her application on September 6, 1978, but for the purposes of her disability benefits, he found that she was not disabled as of the date on which she last met the special earnings requirement, which both sides agree is March 31, 1965.

The Plaintiff then asked the Appeals Council to review the recommended denial of the disability benefits, but this request was denied on November 17, 1980 (Tr. 4-5), and the AU’s recommendation became the final decision of the Secretary, of which the Plaintiff sought judicial review in this suit. When the Court received the administrative record transcript, it found that it could not get even a general sense of the testimony at the AU’s hearing, as the transcript thereof was based on a largely inaudible electronic recording, and therefore the Court remanded the case to the Secretary. The Appeals Council, finding that it could not reconstruct the transcript of the hearing, vacated its decision and remanded the matter to another AU for a second hearing (Tr. 312). The second AU held a new hearing on January 14, 1982 (Tr. 317-410), which was attended not only by the Plaintiff and her physician but also by her attorney and a doctor acting as medical advisor to the Secretary, Robert A. Schneider, M.D. (Tr. 317). The second AU found the Plaintiff disabled on March 31, 1965 and recommended a decision in her favor (Tr. 301-07). The Appeals Council reviewed the findings sua sponte, found them unsupported by substantial evidence, and found that the Plaintiff was not disabled on March 31, 1965, and denied her disability benefits (Tr. 296-300). The Plaintiff now seeks judicial review of this final decision.

ISSUE

The only issue before the Court is whether the final decision of the Secretary as to disability benefits is supported by substantial evidence. This issue is complicated somewhat, however, in that the decision of the Appeals Council rejected the recommendation of the AU, who actually heard the testimony of the witnesses and who based his recommendation squarely on the opinion of Dr. Cooperman, Plaintiff’s physician, that if pulmonary function studies had been done on the Plaintiff on or before March 31, 1965, the level of severity of her impairment would have met the criteria of the medical listing in 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, App. 1, § 3.03 A (1984). Hence, in large part, the question is whether there is substantial evidence to support the Appeals Council’s finding that Dr. Cooper-man’s testimony had been impeached and was entitled to little weight.

LAW AND REGULATIONS

A person claiming entitlement to Social Security disability insurance benefits .has the burden of establishing that he was disabled on or before the date on which he last met the statutory earnings requirement. McMillin v. Gardner, 384 F.2d 596 (Tenth Cir.1967); Stevens v. Mathews, 418 F.Supp. 881 (W.D.Okla.1976); Dicks v. Weinberger, 390 F.Supp. 600 (N.D.Okla. 1974); See Johnson v. Finch, 437 F.2d 1321 (Tenth Cir.1971). For the purposes of Plaintiff’s claims, “disability” means inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve months. 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i)(1), 423(d)(1)(a) (1976).

[933]*933The scope of the Court s review authority is narrowly limited by 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). The Secretary’s decision must be affirmed if supported by substantial evidence. Gardner v. Bishop, 362 F.2d 917 (Tenth Cir.1966); Stevens v. Mathews, supra. Substantial evidence is more than a scintilla. It is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971); Stevens v. Mathews, supra. However, substantial evidence is less than the weight of the evidence, and the possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency’s finding from being supported by substantial evidence. Consolo v. Federal Maritime Commission, 383 U.S. 607, 86 S.Ct. 1018, 16 L.Ed.2d 131 (1966); Stevens v. Mathews, supra.

The credibility issue is well framed by a quotation in Plaintiff’s brief (Plaintiff’s Brief in Rebuttal, March 25, 1984), quoting from Beavers v. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, 577 F.2d 383 (Sixth Cir.1978):

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Bluebook (online)
619 F. Supp. 930, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20900, 11 Soc. Serv. Rev. 709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maddox-v-heckler-okwd-1984.