Niesen v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

Filing 26

OPINION AND ORDER accepting, adopting, and incorporating 25 Report and Recommendations. The Decision of the Commissioner of Social Security is affirmed. The Clerk shall enter judgment accordingly and close the file. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 7/10/2014. (RKR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
JULI NIESEN,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:13-cv-365-FtM-29CM

COMMISSIONER
SECURITY,

OF

SOCIAL

Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
This

matter

is

before

the

Court

on

consideration

of

Magistrate Judge Carol Mirando’s Report and Recommendation (Doc.
#25), filed on June 18, 2014, recommending that the Decision of
the Commissioner be affirmed.

No objections have been filed, and

the time to do so has expired.
The Court reviews the Commissioner’s decision to determine if
it is supported by substantial evidence and based upon proper legal
standards.

Crawford v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 363 F.3d 1155, 1158

(11th Cir. 2004)(citing Lewis v. Callahan, 125 F.3d 1436, 1439
(11th Cir. 1997)).

Substantial evidence is more than a scintilla

but less than a preponderance, and is such relevant evidence as a
reasonable person would accept as adequate to support a conclusion.
Moore v. Barnhart, 405 F.3d 1208, 1211 (11th Cir. 2005)(citing
Crawford,

363

F.3d

at

1158-59).

Even

if

the

evidence

preponderates against the Commissioner’s findings, the Court must
affirm

if

evidence.

the

decision

Crawford,

reached

363

F.3d

is
at

supported
1158-59

by

substantial

(citing

Sullivan, 894 F.2d 1520, 1529 (11th Cir. 1990)).

Martin

v.

The Court does

not decide facts anew, make credibility judgments, reweigh the
evidence, or substitute its judgment for that of the Commissioner.
Moore, 405 F.3d at 1211 (citing Bloodsworth v. Heckler, 703 F.2d
1233, 1239 (11th Cir. 1983)); Dyer v. Barnhart, 395 F.3d 1206,
1210 (11th Cir. 2005)(citing Phillips v. Barnhart, 357 F.3d 1232,
1240 n.8 (11th Cir. 2004)).

The Court reviews the Commissioner’s

conclusions of law under a de novo standard of review.
Comm’r

of

Soc.

Sec.

Admin.,

496

F.3d

Ingram v.

1253,

1260

(11th

Court

agrees

Cir.

2007)(citing Martin, 894 F.2d at 1529).
After

an

independent

review,

the

with

the

findings and recommendations in the Report and Recommendation.
The

Court

agrees

that

the

vocational

expert’s

testimony

was

supported by substantial evidence, and that the ALJ did not err by
relying on the testimony.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
1.

The Report and Recommendation (Doc. #25) is accepted and

adopted by the Court, and the findings incorporated herein.

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2.

The Decision of the Commissioner of Social Security is

affirmed.
3.

The Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment accordingly

and close the file.
DONE and ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
of July, 2014.

Copies:
Hon. Carol Mirando
U.S. Magistrate Judge
Counsel of Record

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10th

day