(SS) Julian v. Commissioner of Social Security

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 28, 2024·No. 2:22-cv-01775·Unknown

Opinion

CHEYENNE LOLA JULIAN, No. 2:22-cv-01775 AC Plaintiff, v. ORDER MARTIN O’MALLEY, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant.

Plaintiff seeks judicial review of a final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security (“Commissioner”), denying her application for Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) under Title XVI of the Social Security Act (the “Act”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1381-1383f.1 For the reasons that follow, the court will grant plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and deny the Commissioner’s cross-motion for summary judgment. //// ////

1 SSI is paid to financially needy disabled persons. 42 U.S.C. § 1382(a); Washington State Dept. of Social and Health Services v. Guardianship Estate of Keffeler, 537 U.S. 371, 375 (2003) (“Title XVI of the Act, § 1381 et seq., is the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) scheme of benefits for aged, blind, or disabled individuals, including children, whose income and assets fall below specified levels . . .”). Plaintiff filed applications for supplemental security income and child disability benefits in 2014 and 2015, respectively. AR 239, 248. ALJ Mary Beth O’Connor originally denied the applications on October 3, 2017. AR 16-27. The matter was remanded by this court after a stipulated motion to remand in December 2019. AR 901-903. ALJ Michael Cabotaje held another hearing on May 13, 2021 (AR 847-880) and issued a decision on May 26, 2021 (AR 944- 956). Plaintiff’s counsel submitted a written brief with exceptions to the ALJ’s decision. AR 1385-1392. The ALJ, on his own initiative, reopened the case, obtained new medical expert testimony from A. Pdczerwinsky, a medical expert, and held a supplemental hearing on September 23, 2021. AR 803-04, 828-847. The ALJ issued the decision now before the court on October 27, 2021. AR 803-819. The ALJ’s decision became the agency’s final decision when the Appeals Council denied review on September 9, 2022. AR 794-96. Plaintiff filed this action on October 7, 2022. ECF No. 1; see 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g), 1383c(3). The parties consented to the jurisdiction of the magistrate judge. ECF No. 10. The parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, based upon the Administrative Record filed by the Commissioner, have been fully briefed. ECF Nos. 11 (plaintiff’s summary judgment motion), 15 (Commissioner’s summary judgment motion), 16 (plaintiff’s response). Plaintiff was born in 1996, and she alleged disability beginning prior to age 22. AR 239. Plaintiff can communicate in English. Id. Plaintiff attended special education classes while in school and has a 12th grade education. AR 291. Plaintiff alleged impairments due to an enlarged heart, leakage across ventricular septal defect, and learning disability. AR 290. The Commissioner’s decision that a claimant is not disabled will be upheld “if it is supported by substantial evidence and if the Commissioner applied the correct legal standards.” Howard ex rel. Wolff v. Barnhart, 341 F.3d 1006, 1011 (9th Cir. 2003). “‘The findings of the Secretary as to any fact, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive . . ..’” Andrews v. Shalala, 53 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 1995) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)). Substantial evidence is “more than a mere scintilla,” but “may be less than a preponderance.” Molina v. Astrue , 674 F.3d 1104, 1111 (9th Cir. 2012). “It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971) (internal quotation marks omitted). “While inferences from the record can constitute substantial evidence, only those ‘reasonably drawn from the record’ will suffice.” Widmark v. Barnhart, 454 F.3d 1063, 1066 (9th Cir. 2006) (citation omitted). Although this court cannot substitute its discretion for that of the Commissioner, the court nonetheless must review the record as a whole, “weighing both the evidence that supports and the evidence that detracts from the [Commissioner’s] conclusion.” Desrosiers v. Secretary of HHS, 846 F.2d 573, 576 (9th Cir. 1988); Jones v. Heckler, 760 F.2d 993, 995 (9th Cir. 1985) (“The court must consider both evidence that supports and evidence that detracts from the ALJ’s conclusion; it may not affirm simply by isolating a specific quantum of supporting evidence.”). “The ALJ is responsible for determining credibility, resolving conflicts in medical testimony, and resolving ambiguities.” Edlund v. Massanari, 253 F.3d 1152, 1156 (9th Cir. 2001). “Where the evidence is susceptible to more than one rational interpretation, one of which supports the ALJ’s decision, the ALJ’s conclusion must be upheld.” Thomas v. Barnhart, 278 F.3d 947, 954 (9th Cir. 2002). However, the court may review only the reasons stated by the ALJ in his decision “and may not affirm the ALJ on a ground upon which he did not rely.” Orn v. Astrue, 495 F.3d 625, 630 (9th Cir. 2007); Connett v. Barnhart, 340 F.3d 871, 874 (9th Cir. 2003) (“It was error for the district court to affirm the ALJ’s credibility decision based on evidence that the ALJ did not discuss”). The court will not reverse the Commissioner’s decision if it is based on harmless error, which exists only when it is “clear from the record that an ALJ’s error was ‘inconsequential to the ultimate nondisability determination.’” Robbins v. Soc. Sec. Admin., 466 F.3d 880, 885 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Stout v. Commissioner, 454 F.3d 1050, 1055 (9th Cir. 2006)); see also Burch v. Barnhart, 400 F.3d 676, 679 (9th Cir. 2005). //// Supplemental Security Income is available for every eligible individual who is “disabled.” 42 U.S.C. § 1381a. Plaintiff is “disabled” if she is “‘unable to engage in substantial gainful activity due to a medically determinable physical or mental impairment . . ..’” Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. 137, 140 (1987) (quoting identically worded provisions of 42 U.S.C. §

(SS) Julian v. Commissioner of Social Security, (E.D. Cal. 2024).

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Related

Jennings v. Carson
8 U.S. 2 (Supreme Court, 1807)
Richardson v. Perales
402 U.S. 389 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Bowen v. Yuckert
482 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Molina v. Astrue
674 F.3d 1104 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)