Smith v. Sullivan

• Decision Date: 03 June 1991
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 88-677-N.
• Citation: 769 F. Supp. 1386
• Parties: Shirley J. SMITH, Plaintiff, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

769 F. Supp. 1386

Shirley J. SMITH, Plaintiff, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 88-677-N.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Norfolk Division.

June 3, 1991.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

L. David Lindauer, Portsmouth, Va., for plaintiff.

Susan L. Watt, Asst. U.S. Atty., Norfolk, Va., for defendant.

ORDER

CLARKE, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the plaintiff's objections to the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation. The Court has conducted a de novo review of the portions of the Report and Recommendation to which the plaintiff objects, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). In the Court's view, all of the objections raised by the plaintiff were very adequately addressed by the Magistrate Judge in his well-reasoned and detailed Report and Recommendation. The Court therefore adopts the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge. For the reasons stated in the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation, the final decision of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is AFFIRMED, the plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED, and the defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

WILLIAM T. PRINCE, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (West 1983) seeking judicial review of the decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services denying her claim for disability insurance benefits. Plaintiff and defendant both filed Motions for Summary Judgment. The matter was referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge for recommendations for the dispositions of said motions, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and (C) and Rule 29 of the Rules of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

By order dated March 24, 1989, this Court remanded this matter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for further development of the record and findings regarding plaintiff's eligibility for disability benefits as of June 30, 1982.¹

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 2, 1987, plaintiff applied for disability insurance benefits alleging disability as of June 30, 1982 pursuant to Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i) and 423, et seq. (West Supp.1990).² The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ("Secretary") denied disability benefits in initial and reconsideration determinations for this claim.³ Plaintiff then sought review by an Administrative Law Judge ("A.L.J."), and a hearing was held on November 2, 1987 before A.L.J. Robert E. Sears. Judge Sears denied plaintiff's request for disability benefits on March 31, 1988. Next, the Appeals Council of the Department of Health and Human Services denied plaintiff's request for discretionary review on September 2, 1988.

Plaintiff filed suit in this Court on October 5, 1988 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) seeking judicial review of the Secretary's final decision. Both parties filed Motions for Summary Judgment. Judge J. Calvitt Clarke, Jr. of this Court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order dated March 24, 1989 that resolved certain issues in plaintiff's complaint while also remanding particular matters to the Department of Health and Human Services.

On April 26, 1989, the Appeals Council remanded the case to A.L.J. Sears. A hearing was held with the parties on June 14, 1989 to resolve the outstanding issues. On September 27, 1989, A.L.J. Sears addressed the remanded matters and again denied disability benefits to plaintiff. On September 19, 1990, the Appeals Council denied plaintiff's request for discretionary review. Both parties again filed Motions for Summary Judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A.L.J. Sears' First Decision and Facts

The first administrative hearing in this case addressed the basic question on plaintiff's eligibility for disability benefits, based upon the existence of a disability of sufficient duration on or before June 30, 1982—the date that plaintiff's insured status for disability benefits expired.

Plaintiff's history of medical problems, developed initially at the first hearing and supplemented at the second, shows that at the time plaintiff was last eligible for benefits she was 47 years old, a "younger person" as defined in 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1563(b), 416.963(b). From 1971 to 1976, she worked as a processor in a factory making television sets. Her job consisted of opening the door to a mold machine, reaching inside and removing the television frame, which weighed at most 12-15 pounds, shaving off the rough edges, and hanging the frame on an overhead hook. Record at 20, 37-40.⁴ Plaintiff traces her disability largely to an accident that occurred at this job in 1976, when a television cabinet fell on her and injured her left forearm and elbow and her lower back. After this incident, she went back to work for two weeks but has not worked since. R. 41-43. Besides this injury, plaintiff states that she is disabled due to a number of conditions including angina pectoris, severe back pain, high blood pressure, diabetes, degenerative arthritis of the spine, vascular problems including collapsed veins and edema, hernia, and a spastic colon, most of which appear to be exacerbated to some extent by her obesity. R. 20-24.

After the first hearing, the A.L.J. concluded that plaintiff was incapable of performing her past work because of severe restrictions in her ability to lift due to chronic lumbosacral strain, degenerative changes of the lumbosacral and cervical spine, mild intermittent pain, hypertension, obesity, a history of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis, but that she did not have an impairment or combination of impairments which reached the level required for presumed disability under 20 C.F.R. § 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1, Listing 10.10 ("10.10"). R. 29. This decision was based at least in part of the A.L.J.'s erroneous characterization of plaintiff's exogenous obesity as being per se remediable. R. 26. The A.L.J. further concluded that while plaintiff's capacity for sedentary work was reduced somewhat by intermittent pain prior to June 30, 1982, she retained the functional capacity for some types of sedentary work such as tube testing, and was therefore not entitled to disability benefits.

A.L.J.'s Second Decision

On remand, the A.L.J. was instructed to take and evaluate further evidence concerning the disabled status of plaintiff, based on her obesity and the existence of one of several impairments as specified in § 10.10. A.L.J. Sears was to specifically address whether plaintiff's obesity was reasonably remediable, and if not, identify the listed impairments and compare them to plaintiff's symptoms which accompanied her obesity.

At the second hearing, A.L.J. Sears took testimonial evidence from plaintiff, her daughter, and a medical advisor, Dr. Baker, and admitted additional medical records and other documents into the record. Most of plaintiff's and her daughter's testimony concerned the severity of plaintiff's symptoms and the pain she experienced, as well as her various efforts to lose weight and her difficulties in doing so. The medical advisor stated in his testimony that he believed plaintiff had made a reasonable effort to remedy her obesity, and he also evaluated plaintiff's functional capacity based on the evidence in the record, finding a number of restrictions on her ability to perform sedentary work during the relevant time period, including difficulty in standing and sitting for long periods and limitations on motion.

The A.L.J. concluded that plaintiff had made a reasonable effort to remedy her obesity, and that her weight met the requirements of § 10.10. The Appeals Council determined that she did not weigh above the specified amount on the C.F.R. tables for a continuous period of twelve (12) months; therefore, it ruled that she did not meet the threshold weight requirement in § 10.10. A.L.J. Sears also found that plaintiff's obesity was not accompanied by sufficiently severe symptoms of any of the other impairments in § 10.10 to justify a finding of disability. The A.L.J. discounted the medical advisor's testimony on functional capacity and made similar findings and conclusions as in the first administrative decision: that plaintiff had severe impairments including chronic lumbosacral strain, degenerative changes of the cervical spine, mild intermittent pain, high blood pressure, obesity, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis, but that she did not have an impairment or combination of impairments that was sufficient under the listings; and she retained the functional capacity to perform certain types of sedentary work prior to June 30, 1982 and was therefore not entitled to disability benefits. The Appeals Council affirmed these findings and conclusions.

REMANDED ISSUES

The issue for resolution is whether substantial evidence exists to support the Secretary's finding that plaintiff was not "disabled" for purposes of disability insurance benefits on June 30, 1982. In order to show plaintiff's disability, the essential factual question is whether plaintiff's alleged obesity, other severe impairments, or related functional limitations rendered her incapable of performing any gainful work in the local and national economy as of June 30, 1982.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I. Scope of Judicial Review

For purposes of the Motions for Summary Judgment, the Court takes as true all facts and material allegations of the non-moving party and construes them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

Under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), the scope of judicial review of the Secretary's final decision is...