UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION

CATHY MICHELLE LOCKE,

 Plaintiff,

V. Case No. 14-13907

Honorable Denise Page Hood 

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant.

 /

ORDER ACCEPTING REPORT AND

RECOMMENDATION AND REMANDING ACTION

This matter comes before the Court on Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Stafford’s

Report and Recommendation. [#18] Plaintiff Cathy Michelle Locke filed this action

on October 9, 2014, asking this Court to review the Commissioner’s final decision to

deny his application for supplemental security income benefits. The parties filed cross

motions for summary judgment. The Magistrate Judge recommends that the Court

deny the Commissioner’s Motion for Summary Judgment, grant Plaintiff’s Motion for

Summary Judgment to the extent she seeks remand but deny it to the extent she seeks

reversal and a direct award of benefits, and remand this matter back to the

Commissioner for further consideration, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. §

405(g). Neither party filed any objections to the Report and Recommendation.

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Judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision is limited in scope to

determining whether the Commissioner employed the proper legal criteria in reaching

his conclusion. Garner v. Heckler, 745 F.2d 383 (6th Cir. 1984). The credibility

findings of an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) must not be discarded lightly and

should be accorded great deference. Hardaway v. Secretary of Health and Human

Services, 823 F.2d 922, 928 (6th Cir. 1987). A district court’s review of an ALJ’s

decision is not a de novo review. The district court may not resolve conflicts in the

evidence nor decide questions of credibility. Garner, 745 F.2d at 397. The decision

of the Commissioner must be upheld if it is supported by substantial evidence, even

if the record might support a contrary decision or if the district court arrives at a

different conclusion. Smith v. Secretary of HHS, 893 F.2d 106, 108 (6th Cir. 1984);

Mullen v. Bowen, 800 F.2d 535, 545 (6th Cir. 1986).

The Court has had an opportunity to review this matter and finds that the

Magistrate Judge reached the correct conclusions for the proper reasons. Finding no

error in the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation, the Court adopts the

Report and Recommendation in its entirety. Furthermore, as neither party has raised

an objection to the Report and Recommendation, the Court finds that the parties have

waived any further objections to the Report and Recommendation. Smith v. Detroit

Fed’n of Teachers Local 231, 829 F.2d 1370, 1373 (6th Cir. 1987) (a party’s failure

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to file any objections waives his or her right to further appeal); Thomas v. Arn, 474

U.S. 140, 149 (1985). 

For the reasons stated above,

IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation [Docket No. 18, filed

February 9, 2016] is ADOPTED as this Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of

law.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment

[Docket No. 13, filed April 13, 2015] is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN

PART.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Commissioner’s Motion for Summary

Judgment [Docket No. 16, filed June 24, 2015] is DENIED. 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this matter is REMANDED back to the

Commissioner, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), for the purpose of

reassessing Plaintiff’s physical residual functional capacity.

S/Denise Page Hood 

Denise Page Hood

Chief Judge, United States District Court

Dated: March 22, 2016

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I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing document was served upon counsel of

record on March 22, 2016, by electronic and/or ordinary mail.

S/LaShawn R. Saulsberry 

Case Manager

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