Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca3-14-03544/USCOURTS-ca3-14-03544-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Commissioner Social Security
Appellee
Nicholas Lisnichy
Appellant

Document Text:

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 14-3544

___________

NICHOLAS LISNICHY,

Appellant

v.

COMMISSIONER SOCIAL SECURITY

____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

(D.C. Civil Action No. 3-12-cv-00940)

District Judge: Honorable Yvette Kane

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

January 2, 2015

Before: CHAGARES, JORDAN and GARTH, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: January 13, 2015 )

___________

OPINION*

___________

PER CURIAM

 

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not 

constitute binding precedent.

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Pro se appellant Nicholas Lisnichy appeals the District Court’s order affirming the 

final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security denying his request for disability 

insurance benefits (DIB) and supplemental security income (SSI) under the Social 

Security Act (the “Act”). For the reasons set forth below, we will affirm the District 

Court’s judgment.

In May 2010, Lisnichy filed applications for DIB and SSI. He alleged that he was 

disabled, and thus entitled to these benefits, due to cervical spinal stenosis; cervical 

radiculopathy; atrophy of the left hand; and pain in his neck, back, and left arm. Before 

an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the parties presented a variety of documentary 

evidence, including reports of medical and mental-health evaluations from several 

physicians. 

In October 2011, after holding a hearing, the ALJ denied Lisnichy’s request for 

benefits. The ALJ determined that Lisnichy suffered from four impairments that 

qualified as serious under the Act: degenerative disc disease, atrophy of the left hand, 

dysthymic disorder, and opioid dependence. Nevertheless, the ALJ ruled that none of 

these impairments was equivalent to one of the employment-precluding impairments 

listed in the relevant regulations. The ALJ next concluded that Lisnichy possessed the 

residual functional capacity to perform certain light work, with limitations in climbing, 

using his left hand, and interacting with the public. As part of this finding, the ALJ 

determined that Lisnichy’s statements about the severity of his symptoms were not 

entirely credible because they were contradicted, at least in part, by the medical evidence, 

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Lisnichy’s reports of his daily activities, and the ALJ’s personal observations. The ALJ 

concluded that Lisnichy’s credibility was further undermined by the fact that he had 

previously been convicted of “using his medical license for criminal gain.”1 Finally, the 

ALJ ruled that, “[c]onsidering [Lisnichy’s] age, education, work experience, and residual 

functional capacity, there are jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national 

economy that [Lisnichy] can perform.” More specifically, the ALJ concluded that 

Lisnichy could work as an information clerk, surveillance system monitor, and charge 

account clerk. Consequently, the ALJ determined that Lisnichy was not disabled and 

thus not entitled to DIB or SSI.

Lisnichy appealed the ALJ’s decision to the Appeals Council, which denied 

review in May 2012. Lisnichy then instituted an action in the District Court challenging 

the denial of benefits. In the District Court, Lisnichy submitted two short letters from 

physicians, both dated May 17, 2013. One letter, from Susan Baroody, D.O., states that 

Lisnichy suffered from chronic back pain that made it “very difficult for him to sit, stand, 

and/or ambulate for prolonged periods of time.” The other letter, from P. Shripathi Holla, 

M.D., states that Lisnichy was “unable to sit for long periods of time” and “incapacitated 

to do any productive work.” The District Court refused to remand the case to the ALJ to 

consider this new evidence, ruling that Lisnichy had failed to show that the letters were 

new or material. The Court also concluded that the ALJ’s benefits determination was 

 

1 Lisnichy previously worked as a physician, but his medical license has been suspended 

due to his criminal convictions. 

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supported by substantial evidence, and thus granted judgment in favor of the 

Commissioner. Lisnichy then filed a timely notice of appeal to this Court. 

Like the District Court, we must uphold the ALJ’s findings — including 

credibility determinations — if they are supported by substantial evidence. See

Rutherford v. Barnhart, 399 F.3d 546, 552 (3d Cir. 2005); Burns v. Barnhart, 312 F.3d 

113, 130 (3d Cir. 2002). Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable 

mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Rutherford, 399 F.3d at 552

(quotation marks omitted). It is “more than a mere scintilla but may be somewhat less 

than a preponderance of the evidence.” Id. We exercise plenary review over the question 

of whether it was proper for the District Court to decline to remand the matter to the ALJ. 

Matthews v. Apfel, 239 F.3d 589, 591 (3d Cir. 2001).

We agree with the District Court’s disposition of this case. Before this Court, 

Lisnichy argues primarily that the District Court erred in refusing to remand the case to 

the ALJ for consideration of the letters from Drs. Baroody and Holla. However, it is well 

established that, to justify a remand, “evidence first presented to the district court must 

not only be new and material but also [must] be supported by a demonstration by 

claimant of good cause for not having incorporated the new evidence into the 

administrative record.” Id. at 592 (quotation marks omitted). The burden was on 

Lisnichy to make this showing, see id. at 595, and in the District Court, Lisnichy made no 

effort to carry his burden. 

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Meanwhile, in this Court, Lisnichy has argued that these letters amount to new 

evidence because they describe “a change — a worsening — of [his] condition.” 

Appellant’s Brief at 2. However, Lisnichy did not raise this argument in the District 

Court, and we ordinarily will not address arguments that are raised for the first time on 

appeal. See, e.g., C.H. v. Cape Henlopen Sch. Dist., 606 F.3d 59, 73 (3d Cir. 2010). In 

any event, we have held that new evidence will be “material” in this context only if it 

“relate[s] to the time period for which benefits were denied,” and does not concern “the 

subsequent deterioration of the previously non-disabling condition.” Szubak v. Sec’y of 

Health & Human Servs., 745 F.2d 831, 833 (3d Cir. 1984). Here, by Lisnichy’s own 

admission, these letters describe a subsequent deterioration of his condition, and the 

District Court therefore did not err in refusing to remand the case to the agency to 

consider the letters.2

Lisnichy’s only other argument on appeal is that it was improper for the ALJ to 

base a credibility determination in part on Lisnichy’s previous criminal convictions. We 

disagree. An ALJ may use “ordinary techniques of credibility evaluation” in assessing a 

claimant’s credibility. Smolen v. Caater, 80 F.3d 1273, 1284 (9th Cir. 1996). Here, 

 

2 Lisnichy attached to his brief a portion of a decision in which an ALJ apparently 

determined that he has been disabled since August 7, 2012. He did not present this 

decision to the District Court, and we will not consider it for the first time on appeal. 

See, e.g., C.H. v. Cape Henlopen Sch. Dist., 606 F.3d 59, 73 (3d Cir. 2010). Moreover, 

this decision does not concern the time period at issue here (December 2004 through 

October 2011), and thus, for the reasons detailed above, does not support Lisnichy’s 

request for a remand. See Allen v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 561 F.3d 646, 653 (6th Cir. 

2009).

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Lisnichy’s criminal history was just one of several factors that the ALJ considered.3 

Further, at least two of Lisnichy’s convictions — insurance fraud in violation of 18 Pa. 

Cons. Stat. § 4117(a)(2) and prescribing a controlled substance to a drug-dependent 

person in violation of 35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 780-113(a)(13) — involve an element of 

dishonesty. See United States v. Rosa, 891 F.2d 1063, 1069 (3d Cir. 1989) (“the trial 

judge correctly allowed cross-examination concerning a fraudulent insurance claim Rosa 

had filed, since fraud is one of the offenses that bears on a witness’s credibility”); Allen 

v. Kaplan, 653 A.2d 1249, 1253 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1995) (“the conviction for a violation 

of . . . § 780–113(a)(13) constitutes crimen falsi”). In these circumstances, we cannot say 

that the ALJ erred in taking Lisnichy’s convictions into account in assessing his 

credibility. See Hardisty v. Astrue, 592 F.3d 1072, 1080 (9th Cir. 2010) (affirming 

credibility determination based in part on claimant’s criminal history); Simmons v. 

Massanari, 264 F.3d 751, 756 (8th Cir. 2001) (same). 

Accordingly, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.

 

3 As noted above, the ALJ also concluded that Lisnichy’s statements about his symptoms

were not consistent with the medical evidence, Lisnichy’s reports of his daily activities,

or the ALJ’s personal observations. It was permissible for the ALJ to rely on each of 

these grounds (and Lisnichy does not argue otherwise). See Morales v. Apfel, 225 F.3d 

310, 318 (3d Cir. 2000); Hartranft v. Apfel, 181 F.3d 358, 363 (3d Cir. 1999).

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