Marinez v. Commissioner of Social Security

269 F. Supp. 3d 207
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 12, 2017
Docket16 Civ. 3243 (GWG)
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 269 F. Supp. 3d 207 (Marinez v. Commissioner of Social Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marinez v. Commissioner of Social Security, 269 F. Supp. 3d 207 (S.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Plaintiff Mercedes Marinez brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (as incorporated by 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3)) to obtain judicial review of the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security (“Commissioner”) denying her claim for supplemental security income (“SSI”) benefits. Both parties have moved for judgment on the pleadings.1 For the following reasons, Marinez’s motion is granted and the Commissioner’s motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

A.. Procedural History

Marinez applied for SSI benefits on February 23, 2013. See Certified Administrative Record, filed Aug. 3, 2016 (Docket # 10) (“R.”), at 131-39. The Social-Security Administration denied her application on May 16, 2013. R. 95-106, Marinez requested a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). R. 108-10. After a hearing held on September 12, 2014, R.- 61-83, the ALJ issued a decision on November 12, 2014, finding that Marinez was- not disabled. R. 14-27. The Appeals Council denied Marinez’s request for review on March 31, 2016, making the ALJ’s determination the Commissioner’s final decision. R. 1-7. Marinez then filed the instant lawsuit to review that determination. Complaint, filed Apr. 29, 2016 (Docket #2).

B. The Administrative Record

Marinez and the Commissioner have each provided a summary of the medical evidence contained in the .administrative record. See PI. Mem. at 11-20; Comm’r Mem. at 3-10. The Court adopts ’these summaries, which do not materially conflict with each other, as accurate and complete for the purpose of considering ¡the issues raised in this suit, except to the extent we discuss additional records below. We discuss the portions of the medical evidence pertinent to this case .in section III below.

C. - The Hearing Before the ALJ

Marinez was accompanied by a non-attorney representative at the hearing before the ÁLJ. R, 51-83. The ALJ heard testimony from Marinez, R. 57-77, and Dr. Pat Greene, a vocational expert, R. 77-82.

Marinez testified that she was born in 1961, and had completed a year of college. R. 57. She lived with her daughter and her five-year-old grandson, but she could not take care of her grandson “because of medication that [she took] to [treat] .,, depression and anxiety.” R. 58-59. She last worked in 2009 as a child care professional, but stopped working because of her medication for depression, which kept her from sleeping. R. 60-61. She felt “terrible.” R. 63. She last visited the Dominican Republic—where she had family—about three years before the hearing and stayed there for about four months. R. 61-62,

Marinez testified that she had not had any regular • treatment for her physical problems other than hypertension, nor any diagnostic testing. R. 64-65. She also said that she had panic attacks, which caused “palpations” in her chest and anxiety. R, 66-08. She treated these attacks with anxiety pills. R. 68-69. She also referenced back pain, R. 64-65, arthritis in her legs and hands, see R. 65, and hypertension, R. 64. 'Marinez’s representative had mentioned “back pain,” “hypertention” and “arthritis” in an opening statement, R. 55, though the ALJ noted that Marinez had “filed a claim that was only based on psych,” R. 56.

Marinez’s depression was caused by “family personal problems.” R. 61. She had good days and bad days, but the three weeks prior to the hearing had been bad. R. 63. On good days she could sometimes travel by herself on buses and subways. Id. On bad days,' if she did not have “any appointments or nothing to do,” she stayed in her'house. R. 64. She said that “most of the time I don’t want to see no one, not even my family,” Id. Marinez said that she had been seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Gerardo Tapia,2 but had only recently started seeing a therapist. R 73. Regarding the therapist, the ALJ said not to “bother with those records ... [t]hey’re irrelevant” because Marinez had just started seeing her two days before the hearing. R. 73-74.

Dr. ■ Greene appeared by telephone. Based on Marinez’s description of her previous work as a child-care provider, Dr. Greene identified this job as “child monitor ... semi-skilled at a medium level” under the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.. R. 78. The ALJ asked Dr. Greene to assume that Marinez could perform work-related activities with no exertional limitations, but with the following general limitations:

She should avoid working at unprotected heights, or with hazardous machinery. She can remember; understand; and carry out simple instructions; make simple work related decisions; maintain attention; and concentration for wrote [sic] work; maintain a regular schedule; and can perform a low-stress job, defined as one with no close interpersonal contact with the general public.

R. 79. Dr. Greene testified that Marinez could not perform her prior ■ work. Id. However, she said that a hypothetical person with those restrictions could perform jobs such as hand packager, dishwasher, or industrial cleaner. Id. Dr. Greene testified that there would be no work a hypothetical claimant could perform if the claimant additionally could not maintain attention and concentration for rote work; carry out simple . instructions;. “interact with ,.. supervisors; coworkers; or the general public; or respond appropriately to our usual work situations[] and to changes in the routine work setting”; or if she would be expected to miss more than one day of work per month. R. 79-80.

As the' hearing concluded, the ALJ said that he would try to get further records from Dr. Tapia, and would give Dr. Tapia two weeks to respond. R. 82. He said that “[i]f necessary, and if I don’t get them, I’ll make my decision based upon what I have.” Id.

D. The ALJ’s Decision

The ALJ ruled that Marinez had not been disabled since February 23, 2013, the date of her SSI benefits application. R. 17. In his decision, the ALJ employed the five-step sequential evaluation process described in the Social Security Administration regulations to determine whether Marinez was disabled. R. 17-19; see 20 C.F.R. § 416.920(a). The ALJ found that Marinez had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since the date of her application and had. the severe impairment of depression. R. 19. However, the ALJ found that this was her only severe impairment because although the evidence indicated Marinez had hypertension, “there [was] no evidence that this condition resulted] in any work-related limitations,” and thus was not a “severe” impairment. Id. - The ALJ. also found that “there [was] no medical evidence whatsoever indicating that [Marinez] has asthma.” Id.

Next, the ALJ determined that Marinez did not have an impairment or combination of impairments that met or medically equaled the severity of any of the listed impairments in 20 C.F.R.

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Bluebook (online)
269 F. Supp. 3d 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marinez-v-commissioner-of-social-security-nysd-2017.