An Overview of the 2022 Ninth Circuit Published Opinions

 We continue our examination of the Ninth Circuit published opinions in Social Security cases by looking at 2022. 

Woods v. Kijakazi, 32 F.4th 785 (2022) - does the treating physician rule survive the 2017 regulatory changes? The short answer is, "no." There is no extra weight assigned to the opinions of treating physicians or examining physicians either contradicted or uncontradicted by a lower tier of physician opinion evidence. All opinion evidence is examined for consistency and supportability. 

Stated differently, can the agency tell the courts what is an is not substantial evidence? That was never really the issue. The COSS accused the courts and the Ninth Circuit in particular of re-weighting evidence. That was never the standard. 

What was the standard is the need for articulation of why the agency had rejected probative evidence. Failure to articulate specific and legitimate or clear and convincing reasons constituted legal error. Part B.3 of the decision affirms that "an ALJ cannot reject an examining or treating doctor's opinion as unsupported or inconsistent without providing an explanation supported by substantial evidence." 32 F.4th at 792. While the "specific and legitimate" standard is dead, it is clear that the articulation must be factually supported and legally cognizable, i.e., factually specific and legally legitimate. The standard is dead but the need for articulation survives. 

Kaufmann v. Kijakazi, 32 F.4th 843 (2022) - a straight application of Seila Law, the unconstitutional structure of the COSS dischargeable only for cause and the ALJ insulation from review (dischargeable only for cause) does not result in an automatic presumption harm. Why is this constitutional violation not similar to the problem in Lucia and Carr? Probably because the courts have said so.  

Kaufmann has a civil procedure cross-over, application of rule 59. There is no motion for reconsideration in federal court. But the district court has discretion to correct "clear error."  

Miskey v. Kijakazi, 33 F.4th 565 (2022) - Miskey received a Social Security benefits and a public employees retirement benefit from the State of Nevada. Miskey also received a spousal benefit from a deceased spouse. The agency determined that the government pension offset did apply, then that it did not apply, and finally that it did apply. Held, the GPO does apply because the covered employment and the PERS employment were different entities. 

Miskey contended that the agency should have waived the overpayment because he was not at fault. Held, the evidence of fault was not supported and remanded.   

Allen v. Kijakazi, 35 F.4th 752 (2022) - Allen is held civilly as a sexually violent predator under state law. Can Social Security suspend benefits during a period of a person confined under the SVPA? Section 402(s)(1)(A)(iii) of the Act? Held, there are no procedural requirements to suspend benefits so long as the state statute is constitutional. 

Kilpatrick v. Kijakazi, 35 F.4th 1187 (2022) - Kilpatrick submitted evidence that the vocational expert's estimation of job numbers was not reliable. The evidence at issue consisted of old Job Browser Pro data sheets before the estimate of DOT job numbers using an equal distribution methodology ("straight-line method") using data seven years out-of-date. Held, the evidence presented was not probative and warranted no response. 

Not keeping up-to-date on software is inexcusable. Using equal distribution as a methodology for second-guessing vocational testimony is not reliable. But the estimates of part-time versus full-time work should have been considered probative. Kilpatrick suffered from a lack of clarity in the law that generated a faulty evidentiary submission. 

White v. Kijakazi, 44 F.4th 828 (2022) - if the claimant submits rebuttal evidence in the form of Job Browser Pro to the Appeals Council, is a remand necessary to allow the ALJ to address the evidence and to resolve the inconsistency? Held, a remand is appropriate to allow the ALJ to resolve the inconsistency between the vocational testimony and the data provided by Job Browser Pro. 

A number of district courts had held that the ALJ had no duty to address rebuttal evidence not in the DOT and had held that Appeals Council evidence was too late. See, Ford v. Saul. 

Cody v. Kijakazi, 48 F.4th 956 (2022) - an extension of the Lucia and Carr appointments clause to the remand to an ALJ that acted unconstitutionally in issuing the first decision and then hears the case on remand after being constitutionally appointed. Held, the claimant is entitled to a new ALJ even if the claimant did not raise the issue in the first set of court proceedings. 

Cody is a logical and necessary extension of Lucia.  

Farlow v. Kijakazi, 53 F.4th 485 (2022) - if the agency has uncontradicted opinion evidence in a claim filed before March 2017, does the ALJ have to state clear and convincing reasons for rejecting that opinion from a non-examining source? Held, the clear and convincing standard does not apply to non-examining medical opinion evidence.

Part II.A of the decision sets out the issue: "Farlow argues that because Dr. Staley's opinion was the only functional assessment in the record, it could not be rejected by the ALJ without a "clear and convincing" reason." The issue is not whether the ALJ had reasons for rejecting the opinion evidence. Rather, the issue should have been "what evidence supports the ALJ's RFC assessment?" The answer to that question is, "none." The ALJ rejected the only opinion evidence in the record and then gave a lay assessment of RFC. The decision lacked the support of substantial evidence for the RFC assessed. 

Smartt v. Kijakazi, 53 F.4th 489 (2022) - the ALJ rejected the opinions of the of a consulting physician as "extreme" in this pre-March 2017 application. Held, that the ALJ could reject extreme limita6tions described by the consulting physician. 

Why is this case published? This is probably the last pre-March 2017 case that we will ever see. The precedential value of the decision is nil under the consistency and supportability standards. The case did not warrant publication under the Circuit Rules. 

I don't know what "extreme" means in the context described. It apparently means that the physician described the person differently than did the state agency non-examining sources. That isn't extreme, it is different under Orn v. Astrue. The COSS explains in the new regulatory paradigm that sources can have differences of opinion and still both have consistency and supportability. This decision invites and encourages boilerplate decision making -- inserting the word "extreme" as descriptive of evidence that the ALJ wants to reject. 

Eight published decisions in a single year on a narrow part of the administrative law landscape. Kilpatrick and White balance out. Farlow can be distinguished with a different argument. And Smartt is worthless in this context.  

Change my mind on any and all cases.

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Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, An Overview of the 2022 Ninth Circuit Published Opinions, California Social Security Attorney (March 15, 2023) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2008.