Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ared-4_07-cv-01100/USCOURTS-ared-4_07-cv-01100-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 864
Nature of Suit: Social Security - SSID Title XVI
Cause of Action: 42:402 Social Security Benefits

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS

WESTERN DIVISION

KENNETH AARON TURPITT Plaintiff

v. 4:07CV01100 JLH/HDY

MICHAEL J. ASTRUE,

Commissioner, Social 

Security Administration, Defendant

PROPOSED FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION

INSTRUCTIONS

This recommended disposition has been submitted to United States

District Judge J. Leon Holmes. The parties may file specific

objections to these findings and recommendations and must provide the

factual or legal basis for each objection. The objections must be

filed with the Clerk no later than eleven (11) days from the date of

the findings and recommendations. A copy must be served on the

opposing party. The District Judge, even in the absence of

objections, may reject these proposed findings and recommendations in

whole or in part.

RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION

Defendant has moved to dismiss this case for want of subject

matter jurisdiction, urging that Plaintiff has failed to exhaust his

administrative remedies and thus there has been no final decision of

the Commissioner from which to appeal. Although time has passed,

Plaintiff has not responded to Defendant’s motion to dismiss.

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(g) Judicial review. Any individual, after any final

decision of the Commissioner of Social Security made after

a hearing to which he was a party, irrespective of the

amount in controversy, may obtain a review of such decision

by a civil action commenced within sixty days after the

mailing to him of notice of such decision or within such

further time as the Commissioner of Social Security may

allow. . . .

42 U.S.C. § 405 (1995).

(h) Finality of Commissioner's decision. The findings and

decisions of the Commissioner of Social Security after a

hearing shall be binding upon all individuals who were

parties to such hearing. No findings of fact or decision

of the Commissioner of Social Security shall be reviewed by

any person, tribunal, or governmental agency except as

herein provided. . . .

Id.

In conjunction with his motion, Defendant has filed the

affidavit of an appropriate official of the Social Security

Administration. That affidavit and attached exhibits show that

Plaintiff filed applications for Disability Insurance benefits and

Supplemental Security Income on February 20, 2006. On September 26,

2007, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a decision finding

that Plaintiff was not disabled. The Appeals Council has not

received a request for review of the ALJ’s decision. On November 9,

2007, this case was filed. (Docket #1) The complaint incorrectly

states that the Appeals Council denied Plaintiff’s request for review

of the ALJ’s decision September 26, 2007. Id., paragraph 7. That

is the date of the ALJ’s decision.

The Social Security Act precludes general federal subject matter

jurisdiction until administrative remedies have been exhausted.

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Anderson v. Sullivan, 959 F.2d 690, 692 (8th Cir. 1992).

Exhaustion is generally required as a matter of preventing

premature interference with agency processes, so that the

agency may function efficiently and so that it may have an

opportunity to correct its own errors, to afford the

parties and the courts the benefit of its experience and

expertise, and to compile a record which is adequate for

judicial review.

Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 765 (1975).

It is clear that Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative

remedies. Defendant's motion to dismiss is well taken.

THEREFORE, it is hereby

RECOMMENDED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (docket #3) be

granted, and that Plaintiff's complaint be dismissed without

prejudice. 

DATED this 24 day of April, 2008.

 

 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 

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