Scully v. Berryhill

282 F. Supp. 3d 628
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 12, 2017
Docket16 Civ. 7211 (GWG)
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 282 F. Supp. 3d 628 (Scully v. Berryhill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scully v. Berryhill, 282 F. Supp. 3d 628 (S.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN, United States Magistrate Judge *630Plaintiff Steven F. Scully brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for judicial review of the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security ("Commissioner") denying his claim for disability benefits under the Social Security Act. Both parties have moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c).2 For the reasons stated below, Scully's motion is granted and the Commissioner's motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

Scully applied for Disability Insurance Benefits on July 30, 2013. See Certified Administrative Record, filed Dec. 27, 2016 (Docket # 10) ("R."), at 154. The Social Security Administration ("SSA") denied Scully's application on September 24, 2013. R. 88-92.3 He requested review of the SSA's decision by an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ"), R. 96-97, and a hearing was held on January 22, 2015, see R. 31-62. In a written decision dated April 23, 2015, the ALJ found that Scully was not disabled. R. 14-26. Scully requested review of the ALJ's decision by the Appeals Council, R. 1-6, but it denied his request on July 18, 2016, R. 7-10. Scully filed his complaint on September 15, 2016, seeking review of that final decision.

B. The Hearing Before the ALJ

Scully was represented by attorney Scott Goldstein at the hearing before the ALJ. R. 33. Mr. Goldstein agreed with the ALJ that there was "a complete medical record" at the time of the hearing. Id.

Scully testified that he was involved in a traffic accident while working as a service technician on March 7, 2013, which caused injuries to his back. R. 34-35. Since the accident he had suffered from chronic back pain, numbness in his legs, loss of balance, inability to walk more than a few blocks, and inability to stay seated longer than 15-20 minutes. R. 35-36, 45. His lower back pain radiated down his legs and caused numbness in his feet, which in turn impaired his balance. R. 41, 44. The week before the hearing this balance trouble caused him to fall and hurt his shoulder, although he had not seen a doctor for that injury at the time of the hearing. R. 41-42. Scully had problems standing and walking, as "when walking any extended distance it will aggravate the pain ... [and] the numbness gets worse and [his] balance diminishes as the pain increases." R. 45. The motion of his spine when bending or twisting was "not good," R. 46, and it was difficult to do something "as simple as taking a gallon of milk out of the refrigerator," R. 39.

Concerning daily activities, Scully testified that he stayed at home with his seven-year-old daughter and eight-month-old *631son, and took care of his infant son for about six hours during the day. R. 39-40. His son weighed about 15 pounds, and Scully could lift him to diaper him or change his clothing, but with significant pain. R. 40. Scully said that his wife had to do the laundry, bathe his son, and shop for groceries. R. 48. He also testified that he could drive for around 25 minutes, but that anything longer than that required he "stop and get out of the vehicle and walk." R. 41, 49. At home, Scully spent "[t]wo or three hours combined" laying down, and could manage on his own despite his limitations on sitting and standing because he could switch positions at will. R. 47.

Scully had been treated with "several injections, which include[d] epidural injections, medial branch blocks, nerve block injections, [and] trigger points," as well as medication. R. 46. He was given a trial neurostimulator for seven days by pain management doctor Peter Zheng, which "worked out very well." R. 36-37; see also R. 458-59 (follow-up notes from Dr. Zheng). Although he was seeking approval from Worker's Compensation for a permanent neurostimulator, without it he felt "absolutely horrible," and had "the same problems [he] had before." R. 37-38. Scully testified that "of all the treatment [he] received in the past two years [the neurostimulator is] the only thing that [he] had any type of forward production with." R. 46.

The ALJ called a vocational expert witness ("VE"), whom Scully's counsel stipulated was "an expert in vocational rehab." R. 50. Scully had testified that his past work as a propane service technician "involve[d] sales, service, installation, diagnostic, repair, [in]stalling of oil tanks, [and] installing of propane tanks." R. 51. Using this testimony, the VE classified Scully's previous work as "medium" type work. R. 52.

The ALJ then described a person of Scully's age, education, and work experience who could perform only sedentary work; could only occasionally bend, kneel, squat, or lift; could lift no more than 10 pounds; and could sit for six hours and stand for four hours-that is, alternating between sitting and standing by having a short stretch break every 30 minutes. R. 52. The VE testified that such a person could perform the jobs of order clerk, call out operator, and charge account clerk, all of which existed in significant numbers in the national economy. R. 52-53. She said that all of these jobs would permit "a sit/stand type of option" so long as the person remained in the work station when taking a stretch break. R. 53. Although the VE said that the "[Dictionary of Occupational Titles] doesn't necessarily address the sit/stand option," the rest of her testimony was consistent with that document, and in her own experience all of those jobs "would allow for somebody to stand up as needed." R. 53-54. But if the hypothetical person had to walk away from the work station and would be off task "every half hour for five to 10 minutes," the person could not perform those jobs. R. 58. The VE also testified that while these jobs "fit within the sedentary category," they would not require lifting. R. 58-59.

C. Medical Evidence

Both Scully and the Commissioner have provided summaries of the medical evidence contained in the administrative record. See Pl. Mem. at 8-14; Comm'r Mem. at 4-12. The summaries are substantially consistent with each other. The Court had directed the parties to specify any objections they had to the opposing party's summary of the record, see Scheduling Order, filed Feb. 15, 2017 (Docket # 15), at ¶ 5, and neither party has done so. Accordingly, the Court adopts the plaintiff's and the Commissioner's summaries of the medical *632evidence as accurate and complete for purposes of the issues raised in this suit. We discuss the medical evidence pertinent to the adjudication of this case in section III below.

D. The ALJ's Decision

The ALJ denied Scully's application for benefits on April 23, 2015. R. 17-26.

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282 F. Supp. 3d 628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scully-v-berryhill-ilsd-2017.