Radford v. Colvin

• Decision Date: 29 October 2013
• Docket Number: No. 13–1021.,13–1021.
• Citation: 734 F.3d 288
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
• Parties: Jimmy RADFORD, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Carolyn W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant–Appellant.

734 F.3d 288

Jimmy RADFORD, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Carolyn W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 13–1021.

United States Court of Appeals,Fourth Circuit.

Argued: Sept. 17, 2013.

Decided: Oct. 29, 2013.

ARGUED:Samantha Lee Chaifetz, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Charlotte Williams Hall, Charles T. Hall Law Firm, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:David F. Black, General Counsel, Gabriel R. Deadwyler, Attorney, Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland; Thomas G. Walker, United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Michael S. Raab, Attorney, Sparkle L. Sooknanan, Attorney, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.

Before GREGORY, DAVIS, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge DAVIS wrote the opinion, in which Judge GREGORY and Judge KEENAN joined.

DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

Jimmy Radford applied for social security disability benefits after he sustained an injury to his back. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denied Radford's claim, finding, among other things, that he was not disabled because his back impairment did not “meet or equal” Listing 1.04A, the regulation identifying disorders of the spine that merit a conclusive presumption of disability and an award of benefits. 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, App. 1 § 1.04A. After the Appeals Board denied his request for review, Radford sought judicial review of the ALJ's decision in federal district court in North Carolina. And he won: the district court found that “the evidence as a whole compels a conclusion” that Radford met Listing 1.04A; it reversed the decision of the ALJ as unsupported by substantial evidence; and it took the extra step of remanding the case for an award of benefits.

Carolyn Colvin, the Acting Commissioner of Social Security, contends on appeal that the district court applied the wrong legal standard in ruling that Radford's condition met or equaled Listing 1.04A, and that it erred in remanding with instructions to award benefits.

We hold that the district court did not err in its application of Listing 1.04A; however, we vacate the judgment of the district court because its decision to direct the ALJ to award benefits was an abuse of discretion. We order a remand to the agency for further proceedings.

I.

Title II of the Social Security Act “provides for the payment of insurance benefits to persons who have contributed to the program and who suffer from a physical or mental disability.” Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. 137, 140, 107 S.Ct. 2287, 96 L.Ed.2d 119 (1987). The Commissioner uses a five-step process for evaluating claims for disability benefits. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(a)(4); Hancock v. Astrue, 667 F.3d 470, 472–73 (4th Cir.2012). The Commissioner asks whether the claimant: (1) worked during the purported period of disability; (2) has an impairment that is appropriately severe and meets the duration requirement; (3) has an impairment that meets or equals the requirements of a “listed” impairment and meets the duration requirement; (4) can return to her past relevant work; and (5) if not, can perform any other work in the national economy. Hancock, 667 F.3d at 472–3. The claimant has the burden of production and proof at Steps 1–4. Id.

This case involves Step 3, the “listed” impairments step.¹

The Social Security Administration has promulgated regulations containing “listings of physical and mental impairments which, if met, are conclusive on the issue of disability.” McNunis v. Califano, 605 F.2d 743, 744 (4th Cir.1979). A claimant is entitled to a conclusive presumption that he is impaired if he can show that his condition “meets or equals the listed impairments.” Bowen v. City of New York, 476 U.S. 467, 471, 106 S.Ct. 2022, 90 L.Ed.2d 462 (1986).²

At issue in this case is the listing that covers disorders of the spine: A claimant is entitled to a conclusive presumption that he is disabled if he can show that his disorder results in compromise of a nerve root or the spinal cord. 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, App. 1, § 1.04. Listing 1.04A further describes the criteria a claimant must meet or equal to merit a conclusive presumption of disability arising out of compromise of a nerve root or the spinal cord:

[e]vidence of nerve root compression characterized by [1] neuro-anatomic distribution of pain, [2] limitation of motion of the spine, [3] motor loss (atrophy with associated muscle weakness or muscle weakness) accompanied by sensory or reflex loss and, if there is involvement of the lower back, [4] positive straight-leg raising test (sitting and supine)[.]

20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, App. 1, § 1.04A. It is the assessment of these criteria at the root of this appeal.

II.

Radford worked as a tree trimmer. In December 2002, when he was 38, he sustained an injury lifting part of a tree at work and sought emergency medical care for pain in his lower back, legs, and knees. The treating physician diagnosed a back sprain and discharged Radford with medication.

Over the next five years, Radford consulted several doctors who collectively observed—at various points in time—different symptoms of nerve root compression present in Radford.

In June 2007, Radford applied for social security disability benefits. A state agency medical consultant found that Radford had “discogenic” ³ and “degenerative” “disorders of the back,” but concluded that Radford was not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. (A.R.52.) A second consultant concurred.

The ALJ denied Radford's claim. The ALJ found that Radford had two severe impairments—lumbar degenerative disc diseaseand chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder—but that neither qualified as an impairment under Listings 1.04A (disorders of the spine) or 3.02 (chronic pulmonary insufficiency), and neither constituted any other type of impairment listed under sections 1.00 (musculoskeletal), 3.00 (respiratory system), 11.00 (neurological), and 13.00 (malignant neoplastic diseases). The ALJ provided no basis for his conclusion, except to say that he had “considered, in particular,” the listings above, and had noted that state medical examiners had also “concluded after reviewing the evidence that no listing [was] met or equaled.” (A.R.17).

The ALJ also found that Radford would be unable to continue working as a tree trimmer, but that he could work as a food and beverage order clerk, surveillance system monitor, or addresser. Thus, the ALJ concluded that Radford was not disabled within the meaning of the Act.

The Appeals Council declined Radford's request for review, rendering the ALJ's decision final.

Radford sought judicial review in federal court, asserting that the ALJ had erred by finding that Radford had not established that he met or equaled the Listing 1.04 impairments. Radford v. Astrue, 2012 WL 3594642, at *1 (E.D.N.C. Aug. 20, 2012). On cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c), the district court agreed with Radford, concluding that the ALJ's determination that he had “not [met] Listing 1.04[was] not supported by substantial evidence” because the ALJ's opinion failed to apply the requirements of the listings to the medical record. Id. at *2. The district court further concluded that the extensive medical record showed that Radford fell within Listing 1.04A because all of the required medical findings were present in Radford's extensive medical record. Id. at *3. Accordingly, the district court reversed the decision of the ALJ and remanded the case with instructions to award benefits. Id.

The district court denied the Commissioner's motion for reconsideration, and the Commissioner timely appealed.

III.

The Commissioner contends that the district court “improperly substituted its own view” of the Social Security Administration's regulations for that of the Commissioner by effectively interpreting Listing 1.04A to require that the listed criteria “be present intermittently at some point in the medical record.” (App.Br.24) (emphasis added). Instead, the Commissioner argues that the listed signs and symptoms must be “ simultaneously present” “over a period of time sufficient to establish that the impairment has lasted or can be expected to last at listing-level severity for a continuous period of at least twelve months.” (App.Br.22, 27) (emphasis added). She contends that the ALJ applied the standard correctly in concluding that Radford did not meet Listing 1.04A.

In apparent recognition of the novelty of this interpretation, counsel for the Commissioner retreated from it during oral argument. The Commissioner's (somewhat) modified contention is that Listing 1.04A contains a proximity-of-findings requirement: To meet or equal Listing 1.04A, the claimant has the burden of producing evidence that his nerve root compression is characterized by sufficiently proximate (and perhaps simultaneous) medical findings of (1) neuro-anatomic distribution of pain, (2) limitation of motion of the spine, (3) motor loss (atrophy with associated muscle weakness or muscle weakness) accompanied by sensory or reflex loss, and (4) positive straight-leg raising test.

The Commissioner's contention is unpersuasive. The interpretation advanced is not supported by the text or structure of the regulation. We therefore reject the Commissioner's invitation to read an additional proximity-of-findings requirement into Listing 1.04A. Because this appeal turns on construction of an administrative regulation, we review the district court's ruling de novo. Precon Dev. Corp., Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 633 F.3d 278, 289–90 (4th Cir.2011) (observing that statutory construction is a “question of law”).

The first step in construing a regulation is to consider the text, Chase Bank USA, N.A. v. McCoy, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 871, 878, 178 L.Ed.2d 716 (...