Maddox v. Richardson, 72-1056.
Decision Date | 10 August 1972 |
Docket Number | No. 72-1056.,72-1056. |
Parties | Richard MADDOX, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Elliot L. RICHARDSON, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant-Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Frank J. Neff, Barkan, Barkan & Neff, Columbus, Ohio, for appellant.
Thomas J. Press, Dept. of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D. C., L. Patrick Gray, Asst. Atty. Gen., Kathryn H. Baldwin, Dept. of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D. C., on brief; William W. Milligan, U. S. Atty., Columbus, Ohio, on brief, for appellee.
Before EDWARDS, McCREE and MILLER, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from the dismissal of a complaint seeking review of a decision of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare denying disability benefits.
Appellant claims that he became disabled from work in 1955 because of a back injury. It is not disputed that his special earnings requirement expired on June 30, 1960. He has filed five applications for benefits, the fifth of which is before this court. The four earlier applications were made without the aid of counsel and, in each earlier case, appellant failed to request a hearing on his application after its denial by the Social Security Administration. He requested reconsideration only of the denial of the fourth application; and, upon reconsideration, it, too, was denied on August 20, 1966. No further appeals have been taken from any of the four earlier applications.
When this application was denied, a hearing was requested for the first time.
The hearing examiner denied the request for a hearing on the ground that the issues raised by the application were res judicata, and he refused to reopen the prior determinations in the case. He stated:
Thereafter, appellant requested review of the hearing examiner's decision by the Appeals Council. That body informed him by certified letter that the 1
In ruling upon appellee's motion to dismiss, the court below apparently regarded the complaint as one merely seeking review of the Secretary's determination of the merits of the application, under section 205(g) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). The District Judge therefore dismissed the complaint on the ground that the Secretary's denial of the earlier applications for benefits had become final and no request for review had been made. He did not discuss the availability of review of the Secretary's decision denying reopening of prior determinations. However, appellee acknowledges the fact that the complaint may be read as also seeking review of the Secretary's decision denying reopening. Appellant contends that the decision not to reopen is reviewable both under the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), and under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. He asserts that the additional medical reports submitted with his fifth application, particularly the reports of Doctors Ridgeway and Fisher, constitute "good cause" within the meaning of 20 C.F.R. § 404.958, for reopening the Secretary's earlier determinations pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 404.957.2
We first observe that this Circuit has followed the Fourth and Third Circuits in holding that the doctrine of res judicata may validly be applied by the Secretary, pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 404.937, when a prior administrative denial of an application raising the same issues has become final because of the applicant's failure to make a timely request for a hearing. Gaston v. Richardson, 451 F.2d 461 (6th Cir. 1971). Appellant has suggested no basis for distinguishing that decision, and none appears. Accordingly, the District Court's decision refusing to review the merits of appellant's claim under § 405(g) was correct.
Gaston v. Richardson, supra, 451 F.2d at 465. We further observe that an authoritative answer has been provided for the question before us by the Second Circuit in Cappadora v. Celebrezze, 356 F.2d 1 (2d Cir. 1966). We agree with the decision of that court, which was announced in an opinion authored by Judge Friendly.
Appellee's principal contention, as it was in Cappadora, is that sections 205 (g) and (h) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g), (h), deprive the District Court of jurisdiction to review the denial of reopening. Those sections provide:
Appellant relies upon the language of the Administrative Procedure Act held by the Cappadora court to permit review of a refusal to reopen. The applicable provisions of Title 5, U.S.C., provide:
We believe that the Second Circuit, in Cappadora, supra, correctly stated the applicability of these provisions to a refusal to reopen:
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