Taylor v. Chater

945 F. Supp. 1263, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17885, 1996 WL 691515
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 19, 1996
DocketNo. 94-0594-CV-W-4
StatusPublished

This text of 945 F. Supp. 1263 (Taylor v. Chater) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Chater, 945 F. Supp. 1263, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17885, 1996 WL 691515 (W.D. Mo. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

FENNER, District Judge.

Jacqueline T. Taylor seeks judicial review of the decision of defendant, Shirley S. Chater, Commissioner of Social Security (the Commissioner), denying plaintiff’s application for disability benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C., §§ 401, et seq., and her application for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits based on disability under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C., §§ 1381, et seq.

On June 22, 1987, and again on March 23, 1989, plaintiff filed applications for disability and disability insurance benefits, seeking a period of disability commencing November 30, 1986. These applications were denied. On September 8, 1989, plaintiff filed a third application for a period of disability and disability insurance benefits commencing November 30, 1986, as well as an application for Supplemental Security Income. These applications were denied initially and upon reconsideration. On December 4, 1990, an administrative hearing was held at plaintiffs request before an administrative law judge (ALJ). The ALJ entered a decision on January 18, 1991, finding that Taylor was entitled to a period of disability, disability insurance benefits and Supplemental Security Income as of August 15, 1989, but not as of her alleged onset date of November 30, 1986. On January 24, 1991, Taylor requested a review of that hearing decision by the Appeals Council. On September 13, 1991, that request was denied. Plaintiff sought judicial review and on August 6, 1992, the United States District' Court for the Western District of Missouri, remanded this case to defendant for medical expert and vocational expert testimony pursuant to defen[1265]*1265dant’s Motion to Remand. A supplemental hearing was held on June 24, 1993, and plaintiffs claim was again denied by the ALJ for the period November 30, 1986, through August 14, 1989. On July 2, 1993, Taylor requested review of the decision by the Appeals Council, On April 18, 1994, that request was denied, thereby rendering the ALJ’s decision of, June 24, 1993, the final decision of the Commissioner.

The issue is whether the final decision of the Commissioner is supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion, and embodies a zone of choice within which the Commissioner may decide to grant or deny benefits without being subject to reversal. Turley v. Sullivan, 939 F.2d 524, 528 (8th Cir.1991). Reversal is not appropriate even if the court, sitting as a finder of fact, would have reached a contrary result. Jernigan v. Sullivan, 948 F.2d 1070, 1073 n. 5 (8th Cir.1991); Robertson v. Sullivan, 925 F.2d 1124, 1127 (8th Cir.1991). The possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency’s findings from being supported by substantial evidence and “if it is possible to draw two inconsistent positions from the evidence and one of those positions represents the agency’s findings, we must affirm the decision.” See Oberst v. Shalala, 2 F.3d 249, 250 (8th Cir.1993); Robinson v. Sullivan, 956 F.2d 836, 838 (8th Cir.1992).

In the instant case, plaintiff was found disabled beginning on August 15,1989. Significantly, plaintiff filed two previous applications both of which alleged disability beginning on November 30,1986, the same date on which plaintiff alleges her disability began in the application at issue. Plaintiffs first application was filed on June 22, 1987, and denied on November 13, 1987. Plaintiff did not appeal the denial of that application. Plaintiff filed a second application on March 23, 1989. It was denied on May 24,1989, and not pursued. In his decision, the ALJ reviewed the regulation at 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.988 and 404.989 as well as Social Security Ruling 91-3p. After considering the criteria contained in the regulations and the Ruling, the ALJ determined that he would not reopen plaintiffs previous applications. Because the ALJ did not reopen the prior applications filed by plaintiff, the principle of administrative res judicata applies, and thus, the only period at issue is the period between May 25, 1989, and August 15, 1989, the date on which plaintiff was previously found entitled to benefits.

A decision by the Commissioner not to reopen a prior decision, or to apply administrative res judicata, is not renewable by the court absent a colorable constitutional claim. Davis v. Sullivan, 977 F.2d 419, 420 (8th Cir.1992); Robbins v. Secretary of HHS, 895 F.2d 1223 (8th Cir.1990); Hammonds v. Bowen, 870 F.2d 446, 448 (8th Cir.1989); Anderson v. Heckler, 805 F.2d 801, 805 (8th Cir.1986); Bullyan v. Heckler, 787 F.2d 417, 419 (8th Cir.1986). A “colorable constitutional issue” for the purposes of judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision to refuse to reopen or to apply administrative res judicata is one that is collateral to, and not inextricably intertwined with, the claimant’s claim for benefits. Bullyan, 787 F.2d at 419. There are no colorable constitutional issues present in this case.

Additionally, there was no evidence that plaintiff suffered from a mental impairment which would have prevented her from understanding the procedures for requesting judicial review. Furthermore, plaintiff was represented by counsel when she filed her second application. The ALJ’s conclusion is supported by Social Security Ruling 91-3p which provides that good cause for missing the deadline to request judicial review due to a mental impairment is found only when a claimant presents evidence that mental incapacity prevented him or her from timely requesting review cf. an adverse determination, decision, dismissal or review by a Federal district court, and the claimant had no one legally responsible for prosecuting the claim (parent, guardian, attorney), at the time -of the prior administrative action. These factors are not present in the case at bar. Furthermore, in Turner v. Bowen, 862 F.2d 708 (8th Cir.1988), the court held that the fact that the claimant was illiterate and [1266]*1266unrepresented did not warrant equitable tolling of the limitations period within which to file an appeal from a denial of disability benefits.

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Bluebook (online)
945 F. Supp. 1263, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17885, 1996 WL 691515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-chater-mowd-1996.