Source: http://sc.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20180306_0000544.DSC.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-01-24 04:22:28
Document Index: 443226172

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 405', '§ 636', '§ 301', '§ 423', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', 'art 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 416']

Princess Wilson, Plaintiff,
This is an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) seeking judicial review of the Acting Commissioner of Social Security's (“Commissioner”) final decision, which denied Plaintiff Princess Wilson's (“Plaintiff”) claim for disability insurance benefits (“DIB”). The record includes the report and recommendation (“Report”) of United States Magistrate Judge Paige J. Gossett, which was made in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636 (b)(1)(B) and Local Civil Rule 73.02(B)(2)(a) (D.S.C.).
Plaintiff applied for DIB in August of 2013, alleging disability due to spurs in both feet and high blood pressure, beginning on July 29, 2013. Her applications were denied initially and upon reconsideration, and she requested a hearing before an administrative law judge (“ALJ”). A hearing was held on March 31, 2016, at which Plaintiff, who was represented by counsel, appeared and testified. At the hearing, Plaintiff amended her alleged onset date to March 11, 2014. The ALJ issued a decision on May 16, 2016, concluding that Plaintiff was not disabled from her alleged onset date through the date of the decision.
Plaintiff was born in 1955 and was 58 years old at the time of her amended alleged onset date. She has a high school education and past relevant work experience as a dietary aide in a nursing home, a packer in a textile factory, and a grader at a chicken processing plant.
The Commissioner is charged with determining the existence of a disability. The Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 301-1399, defines “disability” as the “inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months . . . .” 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1)(A). This determination involves the following five-step inquiry:
[The first step is] whether the claimant engaged in substantial gainful employment. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(b). If not, the analysis continues to determine whether, based upon the medical evidence, the claimant has a severe impairment. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(c) If the claimed impairment is sufficiently severe, the third step considers whether the claimant has an impairment that equals or exceeds in severity one or more of the impairments listed in Appendix I of the regulations. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(d); 20 C.F.R. Part 404, subpart P, App. I. If so, the claimant is disabled. If not, the next inquiry considers if the impairment prevents the claimant from returning to past work. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(e); 20 C.F.R. § 404.1545(a) If the answer is in the affirmative, the final consideration looks to whether the impairment precludes that claimant from performing other work.
Mastro, 270 F.3d at 177 (citing 20 C.F.R. § 416.920).
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If the claimant fails to establish any of the first four steps, review does not proceed to the next step. Hunter v. Sullivan, 993 F.2d 31, 35 (4th Cir. 1993). The burden of production and proof remains with the claimant through the fourth step. However, if the claimant successfully reaches step five, then the burden shifts to the Commissioner to provide evidence of a significant number of jobs in the national economy that the claimant could perform, taking into ...