Anderson v. Heckler, 84-1451
| Decision Date | 11 March 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1451,84-1451 |
| Parties | , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 15,934 James ANDERSON, Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Ethel Zelenske, Baltimore, Md. (Sharon Braverman, Garth A. Corbett, on brief), for appellant.
Mary Beth McNamara, Gen. Counsel, Social Security Div., Dept. of Health and Human Services (J. Frederick Motz, U.S. Atty., John Douglass, Asst. U.S. Atty., Randolph W. Gaines, Deputy Asst. Gen. Counsel for Litigation, Gen. Counsel, Dept. of Health and Human Services, A. George Lowe, Chief, Disability Litigation Branch, Baltimore, Md., on brief), for appellee.
Before WINTER, Chief Judge, and PHILLIPS and MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judges.
After the claimant, James A. Anderson, was successful in the district court in overturning the Secretary's determination that he was no longer entitled to social security disability benefits, he sought an award of attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412. 1 The district court ruled that the position of the Secretary was "substantially justified" and denied the application.
We think otherwise. We reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case for determination of an appropriate award.
In 1973 Anderson was found to be disabled as a result of schizophrenia and was awarded benefits effective October 1972. The Secretary reviewed his case in February 1974 and September 1975 and determined both times that his disability continued.
Another review was undertaken in 1981, and this time an administrative law judge, whose decision became that of the Secretary, decided that Anderson's disability had ceased in May 1982, because he could engage in nonstressful work and could thus return to his former employment as a laborer in a tin can manufacturing company.
Anderson then filed a pro se complaint in the district court to review and set aside the Secretary's determination. He subsequently obtained the aid of counsel and his suit was successful. By the time that his case was heard, we had decided Dotson v. Schweiker, 719 F.2d 80 (4 Cir.1983), which held that there was a presumption of Anderson's continuing disability and that it was the Secretary's burden to rebut the presumption. Anderson's lawyer briefed Dotson for the district court; the government's reply made no mention of Dotson and indeed argued that Anderson had "the burden of showing that his disability continued past the time of cessation found by the Secretary." As support for her argument, the Secretary relied on a decision of a sister circuit found to be inapposite in Dotson. In reversing the Secretary, the district court made a careful analysis of the medical evidence. It pointed out that two consulting psychiatrists found no improvement in Anderson's condition, one indicating that Anderson was not competent to manage his own funds, and that a consulting psychologist expressed the view that Anderson was not competent to work or to handle money.
The district court found that the only evidence to support the Secretary's decision was in the periodic summary and mental status evaluation of the VA's Day Treatment Center, dated November 6, 1981, which diagnosed Anderson's illness as "schizophrenic reaction, chronic, in remission, in a dependent, limited personality." (emphasis added). However, another report from the same agency, with regard to Anderson's condition on April 19, 1982, said, variously, that over the past few months, Anderson "has shown significant emotional decompensation and personality deterioration," that "rehospitalization ... was discussed", that Anderson's "child-likeness [sic] has increased", that "he is capable only of the most limited work in a sheltered setting", that he is "more anxious and much more depressed than he was in January", and that it was "increasingly difficult" to maintain him in the community. Quite correctly, the district court ruled that the evidence was insubstantial to support the Secretary's determination that disability had ceased.
Despite the insubstantiality of the Secretary's case on the merits, the district court denied the subsequent application for attorney's fees. It concluded that the Secretary had "relied upon an arguably defensible administrative record which, under Guthrie, 2 established substantial justification for the government's position." The district court further commented that, although the evidence to support the Secretary was not substantial, "the administrative record was not entirely bereft of evidence in support of the government's position."
By the terms of the Act a prevailing party is entitled to an award of fees "unless the court finds that the...
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