Laird v. Stilwill

• Decision Date: 12 June 1997
• Docket Number: No. C 95-3015-MWB.,C 95-3015-MWB.
• Citation: 969 F.Supp. 1167
• Parties: Paula LAIRD, on her own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Ted STILWILL, in his official capacity as Acting Director of the Iowa Department of Education, Defendant, and Shirley Chater, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Defendant/Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa

969 F.Supp. 1167

Paula LAIRD, on her own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Ted STILWILL, in his official capacity as Acting Director of the Iowa Department of Education, Defendant, and Shirley Chater, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Defendant/Intervenor.

No. C 95-3015-MWB.

United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Central Division.

June 12, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Tom A. Krause, Martin Ozga, Des Moines, IA, and Legal Services Corp. of Iowa, Des Moines, IA, for plaintiffs.

Christine J. Scase, Des Moines, IA, and Iowa Attorney General's Office, for Ted Stilwill.

Daphene R. McFerren, Washington, DC, and U.S. Dept. of Justice, for John J. Callahan.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

                TABLE OF CONTENTS
                I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ............................................... 1171
                II. STANDARDS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ............................................ 1172
                III. FINDINGS OF FACT .......................................................... 1174
                A. Undisputed Facts ....................................................... 1174
                B. Disputed Facts ......................................................... 1178
                IV. LEGAL ANALYSIS ............................................................ 1179
                A. Requirements of a § 1983 Claim ......................................... 1179
                B. Whether DDS Properly Evaluates The Plaintiffs' Subjective Allegations .. 1180
                C. Whether DDS Makes Express Credibility Determinations ................... 1188
                D. Whether DDS Uses The Services Of Qualified Vocational Specialists
                When Evaluating Social Security Claims ................................. 1189
                E. Whether DDS Fails to Properly Assess Residual Functional Capacities
                With Sufficient Detail as Required by Federal Regulations and
                Eighth Circuit Standards ............................................... 1193
                F. Whether the Disability Benefits Granting Process Denies the Plaintiffs
                Equal Protection of the Law ............................................ 1195
                V. CONCLUSION ................................................................ 1199
                

BENNETT, District Judge.

In this class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs challenge the standards, policies and procedures the defendant Stilwill and the administrative body he oversees, the Iowa Disability Determination Services Bureau (DDS), and the defendant John J. Callahan and the administrative body he oversees, the Social Security Administration, use to determine whether Iowans who apply for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits are disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act and other the relevant authority which governs the disability benefits granting process in Iowa. In cases where the stakes are high and the attorneys act as particularly zealous advocates for their clients, the court is often called upon to make a number of major decisions prior to the actual trial on the merits. This case is no exception. The court already issued a substantive decision denying the defendants' motion to dismiss and allowing the plaintiffs to proceed on a § 1983 cause of action. Laird v. Ramirez, 884 F.Supp. 1265 (N.D.Ia.1995).¹ Now, the defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment and the plaintiffs have filed a motion for partial summary judgment. In the conflicting motions the court considers today, the defendants argue neither of the plaintiffs' two claims allege any genuine issues of material fact, and the plaintiffs argue the defendants' responses to two subparts of their first claim raise no genuine issues of material fact.

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Paula Laird filed her complaint on February 15, 1995, alleging a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 following the denial of her application for disability benefits based on major depression and low back spasms. The defendant is Ted Stilwill, the Director of the Iowa Department of Education.² The Iowa Department of Education, through its Disability Determination Services Bureau (DDS), is authorized to make initial determinations for Iowa claimants as to whether or not such claimants are disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. Based on allegations of immediate and irreparable harm from the financial distress resulting from improper determinations of no disability, the plaintiff also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on February 15, 1995. However, on March 30, 1995, the defendant moved to dismiss this matter for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). After consultation with the parties, the court determined it should consider the motion to dismiss first. On April 24, 1995, the court issued a ruling allowing the plaintiff to proceed on her § 1983 claim and denying the defendant's motion to dismiss. The next day, the court granted the plaintiff's motion to conditionally certify a class action. The conditional class was identified as,

residents of the State of Iowa, who in the two years preceding the filing of this action have been or may in the future be denied Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits as a result, in whole or in part, of one or more the following policies, practices, and procedures of the State defendant.

Amended Complaint, ¶ 10. On May 22, 1995, the court issued an order granting the defendant's unresisted motion to allow the Commissioner of Social Security John J. Callahan to intervene as a party-defendant in this case. The same day the court entered an order finding the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction moot. On April 12, 1996, the court granted the plaintiffs' motion to file an amended and supplemented complaint. As a result of that order, named plaintiff William Meeks was added as a party to this suit. Then, on January 17, 1997, the defendant Callahan filed the instant motion for summary judgment. Defendant Stilwill joined Callahan's motion on January 23, 1997. On February 5, 1997, plaintiffs Laird and Meeks filed the instant partial motion for summary judgment.

In the plaintiffs' amended and substituted complaint, they raise two claims for relief. The first claim has two four subparts, to wit:

a. DDS did not properly evaluate the Claimant's subjective allegations under 20 C.F.R. § 404.1529 and § 416.929, and Polaski v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 1320 (8th Cir. 1984) (supplemented, 751 F.2d 943 (8th Cir.1984), vacated, 476 U.S. 1167, 106 S.Ct. 2885, 90 L.Ed.2d 974, adhered to on remand, 804 F.2d 456 (8th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 927, 107 S.Ct. 3211, 96 L.Ed.2d 698 (1987)) and progeny.

b. DDS did not make an express credibility determination and set forth the inconsistencies in the record that lead DDS to reject the claimant's complaints of pain, expressly discussing the five Polaski factors. See, e.g., Ghant v. Bowen, 930 F.2d 633, 637 (8th Cir.1991); Prince v. Bowen, 894 F.2d 283, 286 (8th Cir.1990); Rainey v. Department of Health and Human Services, 48 F.3d 292, 293 (8th Cir.1995).

c. DDS did not utilize the services of a qualified vocational specialist in evaluating the claimant's claim, contrary to 20 C.F.R. § 404.1569a(d) and § 416.969a(d). Social Security Ruling 83-14, and McCoy v. Schweiker, 683 F.2d 1138 (8th Cir.1982), and progeny.

d. DDS' assessments of residual functional capacity are not documented to support the adjudicative conclusion of just what the individual can still do in a work setting, are not fully responsive to the claimant's statements, including those about symptoms (especially pain) which concern the nature and extent of the impairments, and do not contain detailed assessments of the individual's capacity to perform and sustain activities that are critical to work performance, contrary to 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1545-46, 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.945-46. Social Security Ruling 85-16 and Social Security Ruling 85-23.

Amended Complaint ¶ 34a-d. The plaintiffs' second claim is that, "By applying one of two separate standards of review in disability determinations, Defendant Stilwill has violated plaintiffs' rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Amended Complaint ¶ 37. As mentioned, the defendants seek summary judgment with respect to both of the plaintiffs' claims. The plaintiffs seek summary judgment with respect to subparts (a) and (b) of their first claim, which concern DDS's evaluations of their subjective allegations, and DDS's alleged failure to make express credibility determinations based on the record and an examination of the Polaski factors.

With this background in mind, the court turns to the applicable standard for evaluating motions for summary judgment in district courts governed by United States Supreme Court and Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals precedent.

II. STANDARDS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The Eighth Circuit's standard for reviewing motions for summary judgment is clearly settled and often recounted. "Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no dispute between the parties as to any genuine issues of material fact and when the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Beyerbach v. Sears, 49 F.3d 1324, 1325 (8th Cir.1995) (quoting Get Away Club, Inc. v. Coleman, 969 F.2d 664, 666 (8th Cir.1992)). Or, as the pertinent rule of civil procedure provides:

The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). When courts make this determination, "Any inferences to be drawn from the facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Krenik v. County of Le Sueur, 47 F.3d...