Court Opinion

ID: 9473917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:43:38.672079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:49.128148
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part; dissenting in part:
I concur in the court’s finding that there is no substantial evidence to support the Secretary’s finding of no severe impairment in this case. I must respectfully dissent, however, from the court’s de novo resolution of the disability issue. I believe that the proper approach should be to remand the case to the Secretary for completion of the sequential analysis prescribed by the regulations. Only after that analysis is complete does this court have jurisdiction to determine whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence.
*974It is not this court’s function to assess a record and come to a conclusion concerning disability in the first instance when the Secretary has not done so. This is especially true where, as here, the record could very well be incomplete. Because there was a finding of no severe impairment, there simply was no reason for the Secretary to develop evidence concerning the claimant’s ability to perform light, medium or heavy work. Perhaps this explains why the record appears “completely devoid” in this regard. I accordingly would reverse the decision of the district court, with instructions to remand the case to the Secretary for completion of the sequential analysis.