Stamps v. Secretary of Health and Human Services

• Decision Date: 26 September 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-CV-2582-DT.,84-CV-2582-DT.
• Citation: Stamps v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 633 F.Supp. 101 (W.D. Mich. 1985)
• Parties: Percy STAMPS, Plaintiff, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

633 F. Supp. 101

Percy STAMPS, Plaintiff, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant.

No. 84-CV-2582-DT.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D.

September 26, 1985.

Kenneth F. Laritz, Warren, Mich., for plaintiff.

Ellen Ritteman, Asst. U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

RALPH M. FREEMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff has sought judicial review, pursuant to the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), of a final decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services denying disability benefits. Plaintiff filed an application for disability benefits on March 7, 1983, claiming that he became disabled in June 1981, due to a heart condition, a nervous condition, arthritis in the lower back, diabetes, poor hearing, and high blood pressure. The claim was denied initially and upon reconsideration. A de novo hearing was held before an administrative law judge (ALJ) on December 20, 1983. In a decision dated March 22, 1984, the ALJ found that Plaintiff was not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act § 223(d)(1) 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1). The Appeals Council denied Plaintiff's request for review on May 21, 1984, and the ALJ's decision thereby became the final decision of the Secretary.

Plaintiff has filed this civil action seeking review of the Secretary's decision and the matter is presently before the Court on Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The Secretary has not filed a cross-motion in this matter. Plaintiff's motion was referred to a magistrate on May 30, 1984 for report and recommendation. On June 17, 1985, Magistrate Binder issued his report and recommended that Plaintiff's motion be denied. Plaintiff filed timely objections with this Court, requiring the Court to make a de novo review of those portions of the report to which Plaintiff objected. United States v. Shami, 754 F.2d 670 (6th Cir.1985); Hill v. Duriron Co., Inc., 656 F.2d 1208, 1214 (6th Cir.1981).

In evaluating Plaintiff's objections, this Court's scope of review is limited to determining whether the Secretary's decision is supported by substantial evidence. 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); LeMaster v. Weinberger, 533 F.2d 337 (6th Cir.1976). The United States Supreme Court has defined substantial evidence as "`such evidence as a reasonable mind might 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) (quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). The Sixth Circuit has also stated that "substantial evidence is not simply some evidence, or even a great deal of evidence. Rather, the `substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight.'" Beavers v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 577 F.2d 383, 387 (6th Cir.1978) (quoting Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951)). Thus, a reviewing court must evaluate the record as a whole and uphold the Secretary's decision only if it is supported by substantial evidence on the record. Beavers, 577 F.2d at 387; Hephner v. Mathews, 574 F.2d 359, 362 (6th Cir.1978).

In the present case, the ALJ found that Plaintiff was not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act § 223(d)(1). Disability is defined in part as the "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which ... has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1). A person is disabled within the meaning of the Act only if, considering his health, age, education and work experience, he is unable to engage in any kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy, regardless of whether the claimant can actually obtain work in the area in which he lives, Id. § 423(d)(2); 20 C.F.R. § 404.1505.

The burden of proof rests on the claimant to establish entitlement to disability benefits. Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 336, 96 S.Ct. 893, 903, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976); Ragan v. Finch, 435 F.2d 239, 241 (6th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 986, 91 S.Ct. 1685, 29 L.Ed.2d 152 (1971). In order to sustain his burden, a claimant must establish that he is not engaged in substantial gainful activity;¹ that he suffers from a severe impairment;² and that the period of disability meets the Act's duration requirement.³ Assuming that the claimant meets this burden, he must then prove that his impairment prevents him from performing his past relevant work.⁴ In determining whether a claimant is able to perform past relevant work, the Secretary evaluates the claimant's residual functional capacity. A claimant's "residual functional capacity" is his capacity to perform work despite his limitations. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1545(a). If the claimant establishes that he does not have a residual functional capacity to perform past relevant work, he has sustained his burden of proving a prima facie case.⁵Allen v. Califano, 613 F.2d 139, 145 (6th Cir.1980); see 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(e).

Once the claimant has made a prima facie showing, the burden shifts to the Secretary to demonstrate that other work exists in the national economy which, considering the claimant's age, education, work experience and residual functional capacity, the claimant can perform. Allen v. Califano, supra; see 20 C.F.R. § 404.1560-.1568. The Secretary generally relies on published medical-vocational guidelines (grids) to determine whether such work exists. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1569; id. pt. 404, subpt. P, app. 2. The medical-vocational guidelines direct a finding on the issue of disability based on an evaluation of four vocational factors: age, education, work experience and physical exertional capacity. Id. Thus, four findings of fact underlie the application of the grids, and each of the four findings "must be supported by substantial evidence before the disability determination based on the grid should be upheld." Kirk v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 667 F.2d 524, 535 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 957, 103 S.Ct. 2428, 77 L.Ed.2d 1315 (1983).

Plaintiff was born on April 29, 1929 (Tr. 32). He has an eighth grade education and took auto mechanics training in 1955 under the GI Bill (Tr. 32, 33). Plaintiff was last employed in June, 1981 (Tr. 33). At that time, he was a working foreman for a steel company (Tr. 33-34). His duties included supervising up to five men, preparing time cards, unloading 20-50 pound drums from trucks, counting the number of trucks and drums, and cleaning the trucks once they were unloaded (Tr. 34). In addition, Plaintiff indicated that he drove a hi-lo truck but his experience was infrequent, occurring twice a month (Tr. 49-50). He held that position from 1971 until 1981 (Tr. 35). His previous job was at a stone-cutting company, where he was employed from 1965 until 1971 (Tr. 35). He was employed primarily as a common laborer, although he occasionally drove delivery trucks, cut stone and set up forms (Tr. 35-36). Plaintiff testified that he had been unable to work since June 1981 due to an inability to withstand the physical exertional requirements of his work (Tr. 36).

The ALJ found that Plaintiff met the Act's disability insured status requirements and has not been engaged in substantial gainful activity since June 1981 (Tr. 15). In addition, the ALJ found that Plaintiff suffers from a severe impairment due to chest pains, hypertension, restrictive lung disease, and back pain (Tr. 15). Although the impairment, or combination of impairments, was not in itself severe enough to mandate a finding of disability, the ALJ found that Plaintiff was unable to perform past relevant work (Tr. 15). See 20 C.F.R. pt. 404, Subpt. P, app. 1. Thus, Plaintiff established a prima facie case. Allen v. Califano, supra.

The burden then shifted to the Secretary to demonstrate that Plaintiff could perform other substantial gainful activity which exists in the national economy. Allen v. Califano, supra. The Secretary relied in part on the testimony of a vocational expert. He testified that Plaintiff's most recent work experience, as a working foreman with infrequent operation of a hi-low truck,⁶ would be classified as semi-skilled and medium exertional level (Tr. 48-49, 51). He further testified that Plaintiff's previous work experience as a stone cutter and truck driver would be classified in the same category (Tr. 49). The vocational expert then opined that Plaintiff had acquired the following vocationally transferrable skills: following oral and written instructions, perceiving distances, observing safety regulations, directing work of others, including leadership skills, staying within prescribed standards and guidelines; and some clerical skills by virtue of having prepared employee time cards (Tr. 52-53). According to the vocational expert, these skills would be transferrable to approximately 8,000 to 9,000 sedentary jobs in the Detroit metropolitan area, such as bench assembly work, bench inspection work, and bench processing work (Tr. 53). The vocational expert also opined that these jobs would require Plaintiff to make some adjustments in terms of work setting and tools and that the adjustment period would be approximately one month (Tr. 53-54).

Because the ALJ concluded that Plaintiff did not suffer from any non-exertional impairments, he relied on the grids to determine whether Plaintiff was disabled within the meaning of the Act (Tr. 15). See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1569. Accordingly, the ALJ made findings regarding each of the four component factors necessary to the application of the grids. First, the ALJ found that Plaintiff, age 54 at the time of the hearing, was "closely approaching advanced age." (Tr. 15). See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1563(c). Second, the ALJ found that Plaintiff, having completed the eighth grade, had a "limited...