Rangel v. Commissioner of Social Security

138 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4518, 2001 WL 357122
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedApril 10, 2001
Docket1:00-cv-10138
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 138 F. Supp. 2d 921 (Rangel v. Commissioner of Social Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rangel v. Commissioner of Social Security, 138 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4518, 2001 WL 357122 (E.D. Mich. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

LAWSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff has filed a complaint seeking review of an agency decision denying his application for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Both the plaintiff and the defendant agree that the findings of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) are not supported by substantial evidence on the whole record. The plaintiff claims that the record demonstrates an entitlement to benefits. The defendant contends that a remand for further proceedings is the appropriate disposition of this case. Because there are factual issues that remain unresolved, and because substantial evidence in the administrative record does not support the ALJ’s finding that plaintiff is not disabled, the Court will grant the defendant’s motion to reverse the findings of the Commissioner and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Plaintiff filed a claim for SSI benefits claiming that he was disabled from all gainful employment as a result of chronic dizziness and cervical spinal stenosis with bilateral, upper-extremity radiculopathy. Plaintiff had previously worked on a seasonal basis as a laborer for Monitor Sugar Company, and also held jobs as a groundskeeper for a cemetery, a machine operator, an assembly line worker for a furnace company, and a forklift truck driver. He filed his claim on March 26, 1997, when he was fifty years old, alleging that he became unable to work on December 8, 1996 due to his dizziness and upper extremity problems.

After the claim was denied initially and on reconsideration, ALJ John A. LaFalce conducted a de novo hearing on April 16, 1998. On June 26, 1998, ALJ LaFalce found that the plaintiff was not disabled. ALJ LaFalce employed the five-step sequential analysis prescribed by the Commissioner, 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520, concluding that the plaintiff had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since December 8, 1996 (step one); plaintiff suffered from impairments including an old cervical compression fracture with spinal stenosis and possible nerve impingement, dizziness, and alcohol abuse disorder, which were “severe” (step two); there was no evidence that plaintiffs impairments or combination of impairments met or equaled one of the impairments listed in the regulations (step three); and plaintiff could not perform his previous work as a production machine operator, laborer, fence company worker or cemetery laborer (step four).

At step five, ALJ LaFalce found that the plaintiff had the residual functional capacity to perform a limited range of light work and that there was a significant number of those jobs in the national and regional economy. The ALJ found, therefore, that the plaintiff was not disabled and denied benefits.

The Appeals Council denied review and the ALJ’s decision became the final decision of the Commissioner on March 16, 2000. Plaintiff filed a complaint in this *924 court seeking review of the decision on April 14, 2000.

The case was referred to United States District Magistrate Judge Charles E. Binder pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and E.D. Mich. LR 72.1(b)(3). The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment seeking a remand to the Commission for an award of benefits. The defendant, Social Security Commissioner, filed a motion for summary judgment to reverse the Commissioner and remand for further proceedings. The Magistrate Judge filed a Report and Recommendation on November 1, 2000 recommending that the plaintiffs motion be denied, the defendant’s motion be granted, and the matter be remanded to the Commission for further proceedings. Plaintiff filed timely objections to the Report and Recommendation, to which the defendant responded and the plaintiff has replied. The matter is now before the Court for de novo review.

II.

The plaintiffs challenges are directed to the findings and conclusions of the ALJ that the plaintiff can perform a limited range of light work and therefore is not disabled. Plaintiff contends that proper application of the medical vocational guidelines compels a finding of disability, that the ALJ failed to give preclusive weight to the opinions of plaintiffs treating physicians, and that the ALJ made findings in bad faith which are not only unsupported by the administrative record, but that the record actually contradicts several of the statements made by the ALJ.

The defendant concedes that the administrative record does not support the conclusions of nondisability, but contends that a remand for benefits is not warranted because of several, unreconciled factual issues. The defendant points to a subsequent finding of disability at the state agency level, 1 contradictory opinions by the plaintiffs treating physicians, the failure of the ALJ to consider a psychological evaluation of the plaintiff, and, assuming that the plaintiff establishes disability, the need to determine an onset date.

The plaintiff has the burden to prove that he is disabled and therefore entitled to benefits. Boyes v. Sec’y of Health and Human Servs., 46 F.3d 510, 512 (6th Cir.1994); Abbott v. Sullivan, 905 F.2d 918, 923 (6th Cir.1990). Under 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3)(A) & (B), a person is disabled if he or she is “unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment” and the impairment is so severe that the person “is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work’ which exists in the national economy.” Further, “a physical or mental impairment is an impairment that results from anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques.” 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3)(D).

*925 To determine disability, the Commissioner has prescribed the five-step sequential process noted above and set forth in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520. However, if the plaintiff has satisfied his burden through the first four steps in the analytical process, the burden shifts to the Commissioner to establish that the plaintiff possesses the residual functional capacity to perform other substantial gainful activity. Varley v. Sec’y of Health and Human Servs., 820 F.2d 777, 779 (6th Cir.1987). See also Allen v.

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138 F. Supp. 2d 1123 (S.D. Indiana, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4518, 2001 WL 357122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rangel-v-commissioner-of-social-security-mied-2001.