Nelson v. Sullivan, 5-90 CIV 33.
| Decision Date | 23 April 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-90 CIV 33.,5-90 CIV 33. |
| Parties | Darrell E. NELSON, Plaintiff, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Lionel H. Peabody, Duluth, Minn., for plaintiff.
Mary J. Atmore, Asst. U.S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for defendant.
This matter comes before the court upon the objections of the Secretary of Health and Human Services ("Secretary") to Magistrate Judge Patrick J. McNulty's report and recommendation dated December 31, 1990. The magistrate judge's report and recommendation is subject to de novo review by this court. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b).
The facts of this case are comprehensively set forth in the magistrate judge's report and recommendation and need not be fully repeated here. Plaintiff initially applied for Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") on March 10, 1987, alleging an onset of disability in August, 1979, due to arthritis. Plaintiff's claim was denied initially and upon reconsideration, and a request for hearing was dismissed. On August 29, 1988 plaintiff again applied for SSI, alleging a disability onset date of August 31, 1979, due to arthritis and sleep apnea. This claim was denied initially and upon reconsideration, and an administrative hearing was held on July 26, 1989. On September 22, 1989, the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") found that plaintiff was capable of performing a limited range of sedentary work, and denied the application. A request for review was filed, and the Appeals Council received and considered additional evidence. On February 27, 1990 the Appeals Council concluded that there was no basis upon which to grant review, denied the request, and ruled that the ALJ's decision stood as the final decision of the Secretary. The present action was commenced on March 27, 1990.
The Secretary's decision must be affirmed if it is supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. Gavin v. Heckler, 811 F.2d 1195, 1199 (8th Cir. 1987); Brock v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 791 F.2d 112, 114 (8th Cir.1986). Substantial evidence is relevant evidence that a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1427, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971); Parsons v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 1334, 1339 (8th Cir.1984). However, when an administrative decision is reviewed, contradictory evidence must be considered and balanced against that which supports the Secretary's decision. Gavin, 811 F.2d at 1199.
The Secretary has promulgated an evaluation process by which to determine whether a claimant is disabled. 20 C.F.R. § 416.920. The claimant must first prove that he or she has not engaged in substantial gainful activity since the alleged onset date of the disability. The claimant must then demonstrate that he or she has a medically severe impairment. The ALJ must then determine whether the alleged impairment meets or equals the severity of an impairment in the listing of impairments. If the alleged impairment does not meet or equal a list of impairments, the claimant must prove he or she is unable to perform past relevant work. If the claimant cannot perform past relevant work, the burden of proof shifts to the Secretary to show that the claimant can perform other jobs existing in significant numbers in the national economy. The ALJ makes this determination based upon the claimant's residual functional capacity, age, education, and work experience. A claimant's residual functional capacity refers to the retained ability to work despite mental and physical impairments, and is determined based upon medical and lay evidence. 20 C.F.R. § 416.945.
The ALJ found first that the plaintiff was not engaging in substantial gainful activity. He then concluded that the claimant had not demonstrated that his impairments met or equaled a listed impairment. The ALJ then went on to find that claimant was unable to perform his past relevant work. Nonetheless, the ALJ found that the claimant was not disabled because he had a residual functional capacity to perform other jobs existing in significant numbers in the national economy.
The Appeals Council reviewed the ALJ's decision. In so reviewing it, the Council received and considered additional evidence including a report from Dr. Paul J. Windberg. It decided that neither the contentions of the claimant, nor the additional evidence in the form of Dr. Windberg's report provided a basis for changing the ALJ's decision.
As the new evidence before the Appeals Council related to plaintiff's sleep apnea condition from the period of May 20, 1987 through April of 1989, the magistrate judge first addressed the issue of whether the claimant's condition was medically equivalent to a listed impairment. The magistrate judge concluded that the Appeals Council's decision that plaintiff's condition did not meet a listed impairment was not supported by substantial evidence on the whole.
In the event that this court disagreed and found substantial evidence to support the Appeals Council's decision, and because the magistrate judge had yet to discuss the plaintiff's disability subsequent to April, 1989, the magistrate judge went on to discuss whether the ALJ's decision that the claimant was not disabled was supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. The magistrate judge concluded that this decision was not supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole for two reasons. First, he found that the ALJ's credibility determination was not sufficiently explicit. In addition, the magistrate found that the vocational expert's testimony as to claimant's residual functional capacity and ability to perform other work was not supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. Consequently, the ALJ recommended that plaintiff's motion for an order granting summary judgment be granted.
The Secretary first objects to the magistrate judge's decision that the plaintiff's sleep apnea was equivalent to...
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Nelson v. Sullivan
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