Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/670/81/118010/
Timestamp: 2019-11-22 04:27:30
Document Index: 437052723

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 423', '§ 423', '§ 405', '§ 200', '§ 405', '§ 405']

Duane E. Cummins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Richard S. Schweiker, Secretary of Health and Humanservices, Defendant-appellee, 670 F.2d 81 (7th Cir. 1982) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Seventh Circuit › 1982 › Duane E. Cummins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Richard S. Schweiker, Secretary of Health and Humanservice...
Duane E. Cummins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Richard S. Schweiker, Secretary of Health and Humanservices, Defendant-appellee, 670 F.2d 81 (7th Cir. 1982)
US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit - 670 F.2d 81 (7th Cir. 1982) Argued Jan. 6, 1982. Decided Feb. 2, 1982
Putting to one side for a moment the finding that Cummins was blind in one eye, the ALJ's findings compelled him, under the applicable regulations, to hold that Cummins was not disabled within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 423(d), the statute under which Cummins was claiming. This statute defines disability as "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment" lasting at least a year; and the impairment must be "of such severity that (the applicant) is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy, regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which he lives, or whether a specific job vacancy exists for him, or whether he would be hired if he applied for work." 42 U.S.C. §§ 423(d) (1) (A), 423(d) (2) (A). The Department of Health and Human Services has promulgated regulations, under the authority granted it in 42 U.S.C. § 405(a), to determine whether an impairment is of the requisite severity. The current regulations were adopted in 1979 and appear in 20 C.F.R., Appendix 2 (Medical-Vocational Guidelines). Appendix 2 is basically a matrix of the four factors that section 423 makes relevant to deciding whether an individual who is disabled from doing his previous work, such as Cummins, can find other substantial gainful work. The factors are: the heaviest type of substantial gainful work the applicant can do; his age; his education; and his previous work experience. Once the administrative law judge has determined each of these characteristics for the particular applicant he consults the relevant table in Appendix 2, here Table 1, and literally reads off from the pertinent row in the table the conclusion that the applicant is or is not disabled. He has no discretion: "Where the findings of fact made with respect to a particular individual's vocational factors and residual functional capacity coincide with all of the criteria of a particular rule, the rule directs a conclusion as to whether the individual is or is not disabled." Appendix 2, § 200.00.
This mechanical approach has troubled some courts. See, e.g., Santise v. Harris, 501 F. Supp. 274 (D.N.J. 1980). Cummins argues that the approach violates the statute-which requires that the Secretary's denial of an application for disability benefits be supported by substantial evidence, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)-because the "grid," as the approach in Appendix 2 is popularly and aptly called, is not a proper substitute for evidence. Congress, however, has given the Department of Health and Human Services very broad authority to promulgate regulations. "The Secretary shall have full power and authority to make rules and regulations and to establish procedures, not inconsistent with the provisions of this subchapter, which are necessary or appropriate to carry out such provisions, and shall adopt reasonable and proper rules and regulations to regulate and provide for the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence...." 42 U.S.C. § 405(a). We think it was not only lawful under this grant of power, but highly appropriate, for the Secretary to try to streamline the adjudication of social security disability cases and bring about some greater uniformity in the results of these adjudications-which we are told run to about 100,000 each year, made by hundreds of different administrative law judges. Nor does Appendix 2 dispense with evidence. It simply provides criteria, though binding criteria to be sure, for deciding whether the impairment found by the ALJ as a matter of fact is of the severity required by the statute before disability benefits can be awarded. If the statutory term "disability" described a historical fact best or only ascertainable on a case-by-case basis, binding criteria might be a problem; but it does not; it is a judgment that a person's health makes it exceedingly unlikely that he could find a job even if he looked hard for one everywhere in the United States. Such a judgment, to be well informed, requires a broad knowledge of the labor market. The Department of Health and Human Services has this knowledge and can both supplement and draw upon it in a rulemaking proceeding. It was entitled to substitute an institutional judgment for the ad hoc judgments of administrative law judges based on the testimony of vocational experts and other witnesses and on their own limited and variable knowledge of the labor market.