Chavez v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 22

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION for 19 Report and Recommendation in its entirety. Decision of the Commissioner to deny plaintiff's application for supplemental security income benefits is affirmed. Signed by Honorable Tim Leonard on 03/23/16. (jy)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
ANTHONY CHAVEZ,
Plaintiff,
v.
CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting
Commissioner of the Social Security
Administration,
Defendant.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Case No. CIV-15-249-L

ORDER
On February 17, 2016, Magistrate Judge Bernard M. Jones entered a
Report and Recommendation in this action brought by plaintiff Anthony Chavez
for judicial review of the defendant Acting Commissioner of the Social Security
Administration’s (Commissioner’s) final decision denying plaintiff’s application
for supplemental security income benefits (“SSI”). The Magistrate Judge
recommended that the Commissioner’s decision be affirmed.
The court file reflects that plaintiff timely filed his Objections to the Report
and Recommendation, which the court has carefully considered. The court has
also reviewed the Commissioner’s response to plaintiff’s objection. Upon
review, the court finds that plaintiff's objections are insufficient to justify
overturning the conclusions of the Magistrate Judge in this matter.
The Magistrate Judge was correct in finding that the ALJ properly
assessed plaintiff’s mental limitations from depression and anxiety in terms of

work-related functions. In the Report and Recommendation, the Magistrate
Judge noted that the ALJ did not simply find that plaintiff could perform unskilled
work (“simple work” as phrased by plaintiff), but instead “expressly included in
the RFC work-related functional limitations due to Plaintiff’s mental
impairments.” Doc. No. 19, p. 7. The Magistrate Judge noted that the ALJ
limited plaintiff to the ability “to understand, remember, and carry out simple
instructions,” to “make only simple work-related decisions” and to “deal with only
occasional changes in work processes and environments.” Id. Significantly, the
Magistrate Judge explicitly stated in the Report and Recommendation that
plaintiff had not articulated what additional limitations should have been included
in the RFC and failed to establish reversible error based on the mental
limitations as expressed by the ALJ in the RFC. Id. at 8. The court agrees with
the Commissioner that plaintiff’s belated attempt, in his Objections to the Report
and Recommendation, to address the limitations allegedly caused by his anxiety
in his Objections to the Report and Recommendation, comes too late and
results in a waiver due to the failure to include these issues in his opening brief.
Marshall v. Chater, 75 F.3d 1421, 1426 (10th Cir. 1996) (“Issues raised for the
first time in objections to the magistrate judge’s recommendation are deemed
waived.”).
Upon review of plaintiff’s Objections to the Report and Recommendation,
the court finds that plaintiff has failed to justify overturning the conclusions of the
2

Magistrate Judge. Thus, upon de novo review, the court finds that the Report
and Recommendation should be and is hereby adopted in its entirety. The
decision of the Commissioner to deny plaintiff’s application for supplemental
security income benefits is AFFIRMED.
It is so ordered this 23rd day of March, 2016.

3