UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION

LUCY BALESTER,

 Plaintiff,

V. Case No. 15-11050

Honorable Denise Page Hood 

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant.

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ORDER ACCEPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

AND DISMISSING ACTION

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

Report and Recommendation. [#20] Plaintiff Lucy Balester filed this action on March

20, 2015, asking this Court to review the Commissioner’s final decision to deny her

application for disability insurance benefits. The parties filed cross motions for

summary judgment. The Magistrate Judge recommends that the Court grant the

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

Summary Judgment, and dismiss Plaintiff’s cause of action. Neither party filed any

objections to the Report and Recommendation.

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

determining whether the Commissioner employed the proper legal criteria in reaching

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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

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

U.S. 140, 149 (1985). 

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For the reasons stated above,

IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation [Docket No. 20, filed

July 20, 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 June 20, 2015] is DENIED.

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

Judgment [Docket No. 16, filed September 23, 2015] is GRANTED. 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED with prejudice.

s/Denise Page Hood

DENISE PAGE HOOD

DATED: September 15, 2016 United States District Judge

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

 The undersigned certifies that the foregoing document was served upon counsel of record and

any unrepresented parties via the Court’s ECF System to their respective email addresses or First

Class U.S. mail disclosed on the Notice of Electronic Filing on September 15, 2016.

 s/Kelly Winslow for 

La Shawn Saulsberry

Case Manager for Chief Judge Denise Page Hood

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