Platteter v. O'Malley

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 19, 2024
Docket2:22-cv-00262
StatusUnknown

This text of Platteter v. O'Malley (Platteter v. O'Malley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Platteter v. O'Malley, (E.D. Wash. 2024).

Opinion

2 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 3 Mar 19, 2024

SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 4

5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6

7 THOMAS P., NO: 2:22-CV-262-RMP 8 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 9 v. BRIEF AND GRANTING DEFENDANT’S BRIEF 10 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, 11 Defendant. 12

13 BEFORE THE COURT, without oral argument, are briefs from Plaintiff 14 Thomas P.1, ECF No. 13, and Defendant the Commissioner of Social Security (the 15 “Commissioner”), ECF No. 16. Plaintiff seeks judicial review, pursuant to 42 16 U.S.C. § 405(g), of the Commissioner’s denial of his claims for Social Security 17 Income (“SSI”) under Title XVI, and Disability Insurance Benefits (“DIB”) under 18 Title II, of the Social Security Act (the “Act”). See ECF No. 13 at 2. 19

1 In the interest of protecting Plaintiff’s privacy, the Court uses Plaintiff’s first 20 name and last initial. 21 1 Having considered the parties’ briefs including Plaintiff’s reply, ECF No. 17, 2 the administrative record, and the applicable law, the Court is fully informed. For

3 the reasons set forth below, the Court denies judgment for Plaintiff and directs entry 4 of judgment in favor of the Commissioner. 5 BACKGROUND

6 General Context 7 Plaintiff applied for SSI and DIB on May 11, 2020, alleging onset on April 1, 8 2016. Administrative Record (“AR”)2 240–53. Plaintiff was 27 years old on the 9 alleged disability onset date and asserted that he was unable to work due to:

10 schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse disorder. AR 281. 11 Plaintiff’s claims proceeded to a telephonic hearing before Administrative Law 12 Judge (“ALJ”) Jesse Shumway on October 18, 2021. AR 35–38. Plaintiff was

13 present and represented by attorney Timothy Anderson. AR 35–38. The ALJ heard 14 from vocational expert (“VE”) Mark Mann, medical expert Tonia Porchia, PsyD and 15 from Plaintiff. AR 35–64. ALJ Shumway issued an unfavorable decision on 16 November 3, 2021. AR 15–28.

17 / / / 18 / / / 19

20 2 The Administrative Record is filed at ECF No. 11. 21 1 ALJ’s Decision 2 Applying the five-step evaluation process, ALJ Shumway found:

3 Step one: Plaintiff has not engaged in substantial gainful activity (“SGA”) 4 since April 1, 2016, the alleged onset date. AR 18 (citing 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(b), 5 404.1571 et seq., 416.920(b), and 416.971 et seq.). The ALJ further found that

6 Plaintiff worked after the alleged disability onset date at SGA levels for around five 7 months, but “none of his work after the alleged onset date lasted more than six 8 months, and it all ended because of his alleged impairments.” AR 18. Therefore, 9 the ALJ found that Plaintiff’s work activity qualifies as unsuccessful work attempts.

10 AR 18. 11 Step two: Plaintiff has the following severe impairments: polysubstance use 12 disorders (primarily methamphetamine, opiates, and marijuana); schizoaffective

13 disorder; and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (“ADHD”). AR 18 (citing 20 14 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(c) and 416.920(c)). The ALJ found that schizophrenia and post- 15 traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) are not medically determinable impairments 16 based on Plaintiff’s record. AR 18.

17 Step three: Including Plaintiff’s substance use, the severity of Plaintiff’s 18 impairments meets the criteria of sections 12.03, 12.04, and 12.11 of 10 C.F.R. Part 19 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1 (20 C.F.R. 404.1520(d), 404.1525, 416.920(d), and

20 416.925). The ALJ further found that if Plaintiff stopped the substance use, the 21 1 remaining limitations would cause more than a minimal impact on Plaintiff’s ability 2 to perform basic work activities; therefore, Plaintiff would have a severe impairment

3 or combination of impairments. AR 20. However, if Plaintiff stopped the substance 4 use, Plaintiff would not have an impairment or combination of impairments that 5 meets or medically equals the severity of a listed impairment. AR 20.

6 Residual Functional Capacity (“RFC”): The ALJ concluded that, if Plaintiff 7 stopped the substance use, Plaintiff would have an RFC to perform a full range of 8 work at all exertional levels with the following nonexertional limitations: “he would 9 be limited to simple, routine tasks; he could have only superficial contact with the

10 public and coworkers, with no collaborative tasks; and he would require a routine, 11 predictable work environment with no more than occasional, simple changes.” AR 12 21.

13 In determining Plaintiff’s RFC, the ALJ found that Plaintiff’s medically 14 determinable impairments could reasonably be expected to cause some of the alleged 15 symptoms, “[h]owever, the claimant’s statements concerning the intensity, 16 persistence, and limiting effects of these symptoms are not entirely consistent with

17 the medical evidence and other evidence in the record for the reasons explained in 18 this decision.” AR 21. 19 Step four: The ALJ found that Plaintiff can perform, but does not have, past

20 relevant work. AR 27 (citing 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1568 and 416.968). Therefore, 21 1 transferability of job skills is not an issue. AR 27 (citing 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1568 and 2 416.968).

3 Step five: The ALJ found that Plaintiff has at least a high school education 4 and that given Plaintiff’s age, education, work experience, and RFC, if Plaintiff 5 stopped substance use, there are jobs that exist in the national economy that Plaintiff

6 can perform. AR 27 (citing 20 C.F.R. § 404.1560(c), 404.1566, 416.960(c), and 7 416.966). The ALJ recounted that the VE testified that Plaintiff would be able to 8 perform the requirements of representative occupations such as battery stacker 9 (medium, unskilled work with approximately 34,220 jobs nationwide); floor waxer

10 (medium, unskilled work with approximately 118,300 jobs nationwide); and laundry 11 worker II (medium, unskilled work with approximately 66,690 jobs nationwide). 12 AR 27.

13 Lastly, the ALJ found that the substance use disorder is a contributing factor 14 material to the determination of disability because Plaintiff would not be disabled if 15 he stopped the substance use. AR 27 (citing 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(g), 404.1535, 16 416.920(g), and 416.935). The ALJ concluded that Plaintiff “[b]ecause the

17 substance use disorder is a contributing factor material to the determination of 18 disability,” had not been under a disability, as defined in the Act, anytime from the 19 alleged onset through the date of this decision. AR 27–28.

20 21 1 Through counsel, Victoria B. Chhagan, Plaintiff sought review of the ALJ’s 2 decision in this Court. ECF No. 1.

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Platteter v. O'Malley, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/platteter-v-omalley-waed-2024.