Dickens v. Commissioner of Social Security, No. 1:2016cv03225 - Document 21 (E.D. Wash. 2018)
Court Description: ORDER GRANTING 16 Plaintiff's Summary Judgment Motion; and denying 20 Defendant's Summary Judgment Motion. Case CLOSED. Signed by Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. (SK, Case Administrator)
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cases). Remand for payment of benefits is 6 appropriate only if: (1) “the ALJ has failed to provide legally sufficient reasons for 7 rejecting evidence, whether claimant testimony or medical opinion”; (2) “the record 8 has been fully developed and further administrative proceedings would serve no 9 useful purpose”; and (3) “if the improperly discredited evidence were credited as 10 true, the ALJ would be required to find the claimant disabled on remand.” Brown- 11 Hunter v. Colvin, 806 F.3d 487, 495 (9th Cir. 2015) (quoting Garrison, 759 F.3d at 12 1020) (internal quotation marks omitted). 13 As discussed, here the ALJ has failed to provide legally sufficient reasons for 14 rejecting Dr. Williams’s opinion, Dickens’s symptom testimony, and William 15 Dickens’s statements about Dickens’s symptoms. However, the record is not fully 16 developed such that further administrative proceedings would serve no purpose. 17 “This requirement will not be satisfied ‘if the record raises crucial questions as to 18 the extent of [a claimant’s] impairment given inconsistencies between his testimony 19 and the medical evidence in the record.’” Id. (quoting Treichler v. Comm’r of Soc. 20 Sec. Admin., 775 F.3d 1090, 1105 (9th Cir. 2014)). In this case, it is not clear from SUMMARY JUDGMENT ORDER - 25 1 the record that other inconsistencies between the medical evidence in the record and 2 the improperly discredited evidence would not justify denying benefits. 3 Accordingly, it is appropriate to remand this case for further administrative 4 proceedings. VI. 5 CONCLUSION 6 For the reasons discussed, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 7 1. GRANTED. 8 9 2. The Commissioner’s Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 20, is DENIED. 10 11 Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 16, is 3. This matter is REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security 12 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for further proceedings consistent with 13 this order. 14 4. JUDGMENT is to be entered in the Plaintiff’s favor. 15 5. The case shall be CLOSED. 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. The Clerk’s Office is directed to enter this Order and 17 18 provide copies to all counsel. DATED this 9th day of February 2018. 19 20 __________________________ SALVADOR MENDOZA, JR. United States District Judge SUMMARY JUDGMENT ORDER - 26
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