Source: http://www.ecases.us/case/ca6/c787226/robert-m-wilson-v-commissioner-of-social-security
Timestamp: 2019-12-15 20:17:57
Document Index: 533824785

Matched Legal Cases: ['art, 362', '§ 1527', '§ 1527', '§ 706', '§ 1527', '§ 1527', '§ 1527', '§ 1527', '§ 1527', 'art, 348', '§ 402']

Robert M. Wilson v. Commissioner of Social Security, Sixth Circuit, US Court of Appeals Cases, Federal Courts, COURT CASE
378 F.3d 541
Robert M. WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
Importantly for this case, the regulation also contains a clear procedural requirement: "We will always give good reasons in our notice of determination or decision for the weight we give [the claimant's] treating source's opinion." Id. A Social Security Ruling explains that, pursuant to this provision, a decision denying benefits "must contain specific reasons for the weight given to the treating source's medical opinion, supported by the evidence in the case record, and must be sufficiently specific to make clear to any subsequent reviewers the weight the adjudicator gave to the treating source's medical opinion and the reasons for that weight." Soc. Sec. Rul. 96-2p, 1996 WL 374188, at *5 (1996). "The requirement of reason-giving exists, in part, to let claimants understand the disposition of their cases," particularly in situations where a claimant knows that his physician has deemed him disabled and therefore "might be especially bewildered when told by an administrative bureaucracy that she is not, unless some reason for the agency's decision is supplied." Snell v. Apfel, 177 F.3d 128, 134 (2d Cir.1999). The requirement also ensures that the ALJ applies the treating physician rule and permits meaningful review of the ALJ's application of the rule. See Halloran v. Barnhart, 362 F.3d 28, 32-33 (2d Cir.2004).
The Supreme Court has long recognized that a federal agency is obliged to abide by the regulations it promulgates. See Vitarelli v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535, 545, 79 S. Ct. 968, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1012 (1959); Service v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363, 372, 77 S. Ct. 1152, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1403 (1957); Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 347 U.S. 260, 267, 74 S. Ct. 499, 98 L. Ed. 681 (1954). An agency's failure to follow its own regulations "tends to cause unjust discrimination and deny adequate notice" and consequently may result in a violation of an individual's constitutional right to due process. Where a prescribed procedure is intended to protect the interests of a party before the agency, "even though generous beyond the requirements that bind such agency, that procedure must be scrupulously observed." Vitarelli, 359 U.S. at 547, 79 S. Ct. 968 (Frankfurter, J., concurring); see also Note, Violations by Agencies of Their Own Regulations, 87 Harv. L.Rev. 629, 630 (1974) (observing that agency violations of regulations promulgated to provide parties with procedural safeguards generally have been invalidated by courts).
Sameena, Inc. v. United States Air Force, 147 F.3d 1148, 1153 (9th Cir.1998) (parallel citations and circuit court citations omitted). Consistent with this principle, courts have remanded the Commissioner's decisions when they have failed to articulate "good reasons" for not crediting the opinion of a treating source, as § 1527(d)(2) requires. See, e.g., Newton v. Apfel, 209 F.3d 448, 456 (5th Cir.2000); Snell, 177 F.3d at 134; see also Halloran, 362 F.3d at 33 ("We do not hesitate to remand when the Commissioner has not provided `good reasons' for the weight given to a treating physician's opinion and we will continue remanding when we encounter opinions from ALJ's that do not comprehensively set forth the reasons for the weight assigned to a treating physician's opinion.").
The argument is not persuasive in the context of this case. A court cannot excuse the denial of a mandatory procedural protection simply because, as the Commissioner urges, there is sufficient evidence in the record for the ALJ to discount the treating source's opinion and, thus, a different outcome on remand is unlikely. "[A] procedural error is not made harmless simply because [the aggrieved party] appears to have had little chance of success on the merits anyway." Mazaleski v. Treusdell, 562 F.2d 701, 719 n. 41; see also Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. v. Dir., Office of Workers' Comp. Programs, 102 F.3d 1385, 1390 (5th Cir.1996). To hold otherwise, and to recognize substantial evidence as a defense to non-compliance with § 1527(d)(2), would afford the Commissioner the ability the violate the regulation with impunity and render the protections promised therein illusory. The general administrative law rule, after all, is for a reviewing court, in addition to whatever substantive factual or legal review is appropriate, to "set aside agency action ... found to be ... without observance of procedure required by law." Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(D) (2001).
Our conclusion is consistent with the statement in Connor v. United States Civil Service Commission, 721 F.2d 1054, 1056 (6th Cir.1983), that "an agency's violation of its procedural rules will not result in reversible error absent a showing that the claimant has been prejudiced on the merits or deprived of substantial rights because of the agency's procedural lapses" (emphasis added). A procedural right must generally be understood as "substantial" in the context of this statement when the regulation is intended to confer a procedural protection on the party invoking it. The Supreme Court has recognized the distinction between regulations "intended primarily to confer important procedural benefits upon individuals" and regulations "adopted for the orderly transaction of business before [the agency]." Am. Farm Lines v. Black Ball Freight Serv., 397 U.S. 532, 538-39, 90 S. Ct. 1288, 25 L. Ed. 2d 547 (1970) (internal quotation marks omitted). In the former case, the regulation bestows a "substantial right" on parties before the agency, and "it is incumbent upon agencies to follow their own procedures ... even where the internal procedures are possibly more rigorous than otherwise would be required." Morton v. Ruiz, 415 U.S. 199, 235, 94 S. Ct. 1055, 39 L. Ed. 2d 270 (1974); see also Vitarelli v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535, 540, 79 S. Ct. 968, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1012 (1959); United States ex rel. Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 347 U.S. 260, 267, 74 S. Ct. 499, 98 L. Ed. 681 (1954). In contrast, in the case of procedural rules "adopted for the orderly transaction of business," an agency has the discretion "to relax or modify its procedural rules" and such action "is not reviewable except upon a showing of substantial prejudice to the complaining party." Am. Farm Lines, 397 U.S. at 539, 90 S. Ct. 1288 (quotation omitted). Section 1527(d)(2) falls in the former category, creating an important procedural safeguard for claimants for disability benefits. Snell, 177 F.3d at 134.
That is not to say that a violation of the procedural requirement of § 1527(d)(2) could never constitute harmless error. We do not decide the question of whether a de minimis violation may qualify as harmless error. For instance, if a treating source's opinion is so patently deficient that the Commissioner could not possibly credit it, a failure to observe § 1527(d)(2) may not warrant reversal. Cf. NLRB v. Wyman-Gordon, 394 U.S. 759, 766 n. 6, 89 S. Ct. 1426, 22 L. Ed. 2d 709 (1969) (plurality opinion) (where "remand would be an idle and useless formality," courts are not required to "convert judicial review of agency action into a ping-pong game"). There is also the possibility that if the Commissioner adopts the opinion of the treating source or makes findings consistent with the opinion, it may be irrelevant that the ALJ did not give weight to the treating physician's opinion, and the failure to give reasons for not giving such weight is correspondingly irrelevant. Or perhaps a situation could arise where the Commissioner has met the goal of § 1527(d)(2) — the provision of the procedural safeguard of reasons — even though she has not complied with the terms of the regulation. However, none of these possibilities is present in the instant case, and the ALJ committed reversible error by depriving Wilson of the procedural right given to him by the agency's regulation.
Our decision in Heston v. Commissioner of Social Security, 245 F.3d 528 (6th Cir.2001), cited by the Commissioner, does not compel a contrary result. In that case, the court held that the ALJ's failure to discuss the report of the claimant's treating physician constituted harmless error, without discussing § 1527(d)(2). Despite his failure to address the treating physician's opinion, the ALJ in Heston had considered the limitations described by that physician in determining whether the claimant could find other work at the relevant step of the sequential analysis. Id. at 536. There was no reason to remand the case because, wittingly or not, the ALJ attributed to the claimant limitations consistent with those identified by the treating physician. Id. In contrast, Wilson has invoked § 1527(d)(2), and the ALJ explicitly rejected DeWys's opinion and found that Wilson had limitations less severe than those described by DeWys. Because the basis for the ALJ's dismissal of DeWys's opinion is unclear, and because DeWys's opinion is not inadequate as a matter of law, we cannot deem the ALJ's failure to "give good reasons" for its rejection of DeWys's opinion harmless error. Brueggemann v. Barnhart, 348 F.3d 689, 695-96 (8th Cir.2003).
The claimant bears the burden of proof during the first four steps, but the burden shifts to the Commissioner at step five. Walters v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 127 F.3d 525, 529 (6th Cir.1997). At step five, the Commissioner must identify a significant number of jobs in the economy that accommodate the claimant's residual functional capacity and vocational profile. Jones v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 336 F.3d 469, 474 (6th Cir.2003). In many cases, the Commissioner may carry this burden by applying the medical-vocational grid at 20 C.F.R. Pt. 404, Subpt. P, App. 2, which directs a conclusion of "disabled" or "not disabled" based on the claimant's age and education and on whether the claimant has transferable work skills. Wright v. Massanari, 321 F.3d 611, 615 (6th Cir.2003); Burton v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 893 F.2d 821, 822 (6th Cir.1990). However, if a claimant suffers from a limitation not accounted for by the grid, the Commissioner may use the grid as a framework for her decision, but must rely on other evidence to carry her burden. Id. In such a case, the Commissioner may rely on the testimony of a vocational expert to find that the claimant possesses the capacity to perform other substantial gainful activity that exists in the national economy. Heston, 245 F.3d at 537-38; Cline v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 96 F.3d 146, 150 (6th Cir.1996).
Wilson's arguments are unpersuasive. This court has held repeatedly that the testimony of a vocational expert identifying specific jobs available in the regional economy that an individual with the claimant's limitation could perform can constitute substantial evidence supporting an ALJ's finding at step 5 that the claimant can perform other work. See, e.g., Wright, 321 F.3d at 616; Cline, 96 F.3d at 150; Sias v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 861 F.2d 475, 481 (6th Cir.1988). With respect to transferable skills, 20 C.F.R. & sect; 404.1568 defines transferable skills, states how the agency determines that skills are transferable to other jobs, and describes a range of degrees of transferability of skills. The regulation does not explicitly mandate the enumeration of transferable skills at step 5. Wilson's conclusory argument does not supply a basis for reading such a requirement into the regulation.
Finally, contrary to Wilson's argument, SSR 82-41 does not require the identification of transferable skills in the instant case. We need not decide whether Social Security Rulings are binding on the Commissioner in the same way as Social Security Regulations.1 Even assuming that they are, an agency's interpretation of its own regulation is entitled to substantial deference and will be upheld unless plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation. Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452, 461, 117 S. Ct. 905, 137 L. Ed. 2d 79 (1997); United States v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 348 F.3d 569, 578 (6th Cir.2003). In relevant part, SSR 82-41 reads, "When the issue of skills and their transferability must be decided, the adjudicator or ALJ is required to make certain findings of fact and include them in the written decision," and "When a finding is made that a claimant has transferable skills, the acquired work skills must be identified." Soc. Sec. Rul. 82-14, 1982 WL 31389, at * 7 (1982). The Commissioner insists that these passages apply only when an ALJ relies solely on the grid, in which cases the ALJ must ascertain whether the claimant has transferable skills in order to apply the grid. Wilson offers only a muddy and conclusory response to this argument, and, from our review of the relevant materials, the Commissioner's interpretation of SSR 82-41 appears reasonable. We therefore defer to the Commissioner's view.
According to a regulation, Social Security Rulings "represent precedent final opinions and orders and statements of policy and interpretations" adopted by the Social Security Administration and "are binding on all components of the Social Security Administration." 20 C.F.R. § 402.35(b)(1) (2004);see also Sykes v. Apfel, 228 F.3d 259, 271 (3d Cir.2000).
DocketNumber： 03-1588
Citation Numbers： 378 F.3d 541
Andrew Connor v. United States Civil Service Commission , 721 F.2d 1054 ( 1983 )
23 soc.sec.rep.ser. 580, unempl.ins.rep. Cch 14286a James R.... , 861 F.2d 475 ( 1988 )
28 soc.sec.rep.ser. 261, unempl.ins.rep. Cch 15175a Aileen ... , 893 F.2d 821 ( 1990 )
Wayne Cline v. Commissioner of Social Security , 96 F.3d 146 ( 1996 )
ingalls-shipbuilding-inc-and-american-mutual-liability-insurance-company , 102 F.3d 1385 ( 1996 )
Rita Schaal v. Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social ... , 134 F.3d 496 ( 1998 )
42-contcasfed-cch-p-77335-98-cal-daily-op-serv-5307-98-daily , 147 F.3d 1148 ( 1998 )
clifton-sykes-sr-v-kenneth-s-apfel-commissioner-of-social-security , 228 F.3d 259 ( 2000 )
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