10-4876-cv Potter v. Costello 

## UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS **FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT** 

# SUMMARY ORDER

**RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED**  **AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF**  **APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN**  **ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A**  **PARTY CITING TO A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.**  At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for 1 the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United 2 States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of New York, on 3 the 18thday of May, two thousand twelve. 4 5 PRESENT: 6 Richard C. Wesley, 7 Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., 8 Christopher F. Droney, 9 Circuit Judges. 10

_____________________________________ 11 12 ANTONIO T. POTTER, 13 14 Plaintiff-Appellant , 15 16 v. 10-4876-cv 17 18 JOHN P. COSTELLO, 19 20 Defendant , 21 22 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, 23 24 Defendant-Appellee

. 25 26

_____________________________________ 27 28 29 

### FOR APPELLANT: Antonio T. Potter, pro se , 30 

### Rochester, NY. 31 32 

### FOR APPELLEES: Elizabeth D. Rothstein, Special 33 

### Assistant United States Attorney, 34 

### Mary Ann Sloan, Acting Regional 35

### 2 Chief Counsel, Office of the General 1 

### Counsel for the Social Security 2 

### Administration, for William J. 3 

### Hochul, Jr., United States Attorney 4 

### for the Western District of New 5 

### York, New York, NY. 6 

### Appeal from a judgment of the United States District 7 

### Court for the Western District of New York (Larimer, J.). 8 

### UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, 9


### AND DECREEDthat the judgment of the district court is 10



### AFFIRMED
. 11 

### Appellant Antonio T. Potter, proceeding pro se , appeals 12 

### from the district court’s (Larimer, J. ) November 1, 2010, 13 

### judgment on the pleadings in favor of the Commissioner of 14 

### Social Security (the “Commissioner”) in Potter’s action 15 

### seeking judicial review of a final decision of the 16 

### Commissioner. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the 17 

### underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and 18 

### the issues on appeal. 19 

### We review de novoa district court’s decision granting 20 

### a motion for judgment on the pleadings. Desiano v. 21 

### Warner-Lambert & Co. , 467 F.3d 85, 89 (2d Cir. 2006). Doing 22 

### so requires us to examine the administrative record “to 23 

### determine whether there is substantial evidence supporting 24 

### the Commissioner’s decision and whether the Commissioner 25

### 3 applied the correct legal standard.” Machadio v. Apfel , 276 1 

### F.3d 103, 108 (2d Cir. 2002). Substantial evidence is “more 2 

### than a mere scintilla” and “means such relevant evidence as 3 

### a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a 4 

### conclusion.” Burgess v. Astrue , 537 F.3d 117, 127 (2d Cir. 5 

### 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). 6 

### Here, because Potter did not oppose or otherwise 7 

### respond to the Commissioner’s motion for judgment on the 8 

### pleadings, we will not consider the arguments in his brief 9 

### for the first time on appeal. See Bogle-Assegai v. 10 

### Connecticut , 470 F.3d 498, 504 (2d Cir. 2006). Moreover, 11 

### even if we were to exercise our discretion to consider 12 

### Potter’s arguments, see id. , we would determine that, for 13 

### the reasons stated by the district court, the Commissioner’s 14 

### decision was legally correct and supported by substantial 15 

### evidence. 16 

### We have considered Appellant’s other arguments on 17 

### appeal and have found them to be without merit. 18 

### Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is hereby 19



### AFFIRMED
. 20 21 

### FOR THE COURT: 22 

### Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 23 24