Cyrus v. Celebrezze

• Decision Date: 26 January 1965
• Docket Number: No. 9501.,9501.
• Citation: 341 F.2d 192
• Parties: Winston Porter CYRUS, Appellee, v. Anthony J. CELEBREZZE, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

341 F.2d 192 (1965)

Winston Porter CYRUS, Appellee, v. Anthony J. CELEBREZZE, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellant.

No. 9501.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued September 21, 1964.

Decided January 26, 1965.

Samuel J. Heyman, Atty., Dept. of Justice (John W. Douglas, Asst. Atty. Gen., Sherman L. Cohn, Atty., Dept. of Justice, and Thomas B. Mason, U. S. Atty., on brief), for appellant.

Floyd C. Jennings, Jr., Lynchburg, Va., for appellee.

Before SOBELOFF, Chief Judge, BRYAN, Circuit Judge, and SIMONS, District Judge.

SOBELOFF, Chief Judge.

On April 7, 1961, Winston P. Cyrus of Lynchburg, Virginia, filed an application with the Social Security Administration for disability insurance benefits under sections 216(i) and 223 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 416(i) and 423. Since then he has been engaged in numerous proceedings in an effort to obtain the benefits of the Act.¹

The Secretary here appeals from the order of the District Court which (1) determined that the Secretary's findings adverse to Cyrus' claim were not supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, (2) granted Cyrus' motion for summary judgment, and (3) held him entitled to disability insurance benefits.

The statutory test for determining a claimant's right to benefits under the Act is whether he is under a "disability," defined by section 216(i), 42 U.S.C.A. § 416(i), as "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical impairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration * * *."

As this court recently stated in Thomas v. Celebrezze, 331 F.2d 541, 545 (4th Cir. 1964):

"There really are two steps to a finding of disability: first a finding of a `medically determinable physical or mental impairment * * *\' and, second, a finding that the impairment in fact causes an inability to `engage in any substantial gainful activity * * *.\'"

The present controversy revolves around the second step, and it is against its background that we examine the evidence of (1) objective medical facts, (2) expert medical opinion, (3) subjective evidence of pain and disability and, most important for purposes of this case, (4) claimant's age, educational background, and work history. Underwood v. Ribicoff, 298 F.2d 850, 851 (4th Cir. 1962).

Born on June 21, 1911, and thus 49 years of age during the critical period here in question, Cyrus grew up on a farm, and has had a fourth grade education. In 1929, he left the farm and for a period of six months worked in a cotton mill, filling batteries. From late 1929 until 1942 he worked for the Craddock-Terry Shoe Company. His job consisted primarily of climbing up a ladder and bringing down shoe lasts from bins. Between 1942 and 1945 he was employed in Norfolk, Virginia, as an ordnance helper, an occupation requiring the handling of ammunition shells weighing 70 pounds or more. In September, 1945, he went to work for the Blue Ridge Manufacturing Company which employed him until 1956. At first he ran a banding machine, a job which required him to stand all day. From 1948 until 1954 he performed the duties of a garment cutter, operating an electric cutting machine. Due to developing pain in his back and legs, he had difficulty standing and bending, as this job required. He underwent an operation on his back in 1955 to alleviate his condition and, upon his return to work late in that year, was assigned less strenuous duties as a clothing inspector. After a short time he had to leave this job because of inability to stand all day. Later, he tried working for one month in 1957 as a male nurse, but found himself unable to raise and lower patients in their hospital beds. He then obtained employment as a taxicab driver. At that job he worked intermittently both before and after 1958, when he underwent a second operation on his back. After this, he was unable to continue in the taxicab driver's job. He left it in 1959.

Cyrus has not held another job since that time although, in 1959 and 1960, he tried unsuccessfully to get work with his former employers, the Blue Ridge Manufacturing Company and the Craddock-Terry Shoe Company.

The objective medical evidence is that since 1951, Cyrus has experienced severe back pains caused by ruptured discs. The surgery, both in 1955 and 1958, were spinal laminectomies and fusions. Even after these operations, his doctors observed that Cyrus had only limited bending motion in his back. Dr. Novak noted deep furrows in Cyrus' face, which indicated to him that Cyrus was enduring persistent pain.

The hearing examiner had before him evaluations by six doctors. Dr. Sheffey, Cyrus' family physician, testified that Cyrus was "not able to enter into his substantial gainful employment on or before April 7, 1961," the date of the claim.

A 1961 report of Dr. Platt, Cyrus' surgeon, stated that Cyrus was:

"unable to do any except sedentary work, office type, but has had no training to qualify him for this." His condition was "growing progressively worse and * * * he is unable to work as a cab driver or any work requiring prolonged standing or sitting. * * * Further surgery is not indicated."

He explained that further surgery, after the two operations, might result in paralysis. He considered Cyrus totally disabled. Dr. Platt's 1963 report concluded that Cyrus had the physical capacity for only sedentary work, but for this he was unsuited by education and training; the doctor therefore considered it impossible to rehabilitate him.

Dr. Novak, whom Cyrus employed for a psychiatric evaluation, and Dr. Botton both found Cyrus totally and permanently disabled.

The only other medical opinion evidence was that of Drs. Stewart and Allen, to whom the hearing examiner referred Cyrus for pre-hearing evaluations. They expressed the opinion that Cyrus would be able to do an eight-hour-a-day job, four hours at a time. We shall refer to their testimony later.

In addition to Cyrus, his relatives, neighbors, and others testified in detail to evidences observed by them of his pain and disability in work, social, religious and everyday activities.

Dr. Edwin Thomas, a vocational counselor called by the examiner, referring to the "U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles," as well as a manual entitled "Estimates of Worker Trait Requirements," concluded that there were numerous jobs in the economy that Cyrus was capable of performing. As specific examples, Dr. Thomas mentioned jobs in the shoe industry as "Fancy Stitch Marker, Hand," and "White Shoe Doper." He testified that he selected these particular jobs because Cyrus had once been employed by the Craddock-Terry Shoe Corporation, but ignored the Fact that before his disability, when Cyrus worked in the shoe factory, it was not at such skilled operations but only as an unskilled worker. He also suggested jobs as "Keeper" in a dog kennel, assembler in a manufacturing industry, and guard or gateman at a manufacturing plant.

On the basis of this evidence, the examiner concluded that although "claimant's back condition may prevent him from engaging in his former or customary occupation of clothes cutter," he was not unsuited for his former jobs as taxicab driver or hospital attendant. He ignored the history of Cyrus' earlier failure as a taxi driver because he had to wear a brace and was unable to assist passengers in lifting grocery packages or other baggage. He also failed to give weight to Cyrus' experience of incapacity to perform his hospital duties by reason of his back condition.

A further basis for denying disability benefits was the finding that Cyrus "was capable of performing the functions of light or sedentary occupations prevailing in the economy." Gotshaw v. Ribicoff, 307 F.2d 840, 844 (4th Cir. 1962), cert. denied, Heath v. Celebrezze, 372 U.S. 945, 83 S.Ct. 938, 9 L.Ed.2d 970 (1963).

We agree with the District Court that there was no substantial evidence on the record as a whole which would support such a conclusion.

While it is...