Pasanen v. Berryhill

Filing 14

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT 12 by Magistrate Judge Saporito, directing Clrk of Ct to entere jdgmt in favor of pltf & against Commissioner as follows - Commissioner's decision VACATED & matter REMANDED to Commissioner to conduct new admin hrt, deve lop record fully & evaluate evidence appropriatelin in acc w/ this order & report 12 of Magistrate Judge Saporito, & directing Clrk of Ct to CLOSE case. (See oreder for complete details.) Signed by Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner on 8/28/18. (ki)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
CHRISTINA M. PASANEN,
Plaintiff
v.
NANCY A. BERRYHILL,1
Defendant

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:17-CV-1164
(Chief Judge Conner)

ORDER
AND NOW, this 28th day of August, 2018, upon consideration of the
report (Doc. 12) of Magistrate Judge Joseph F. Saporito, Jr., recommending that the
court vacate the decision of the administrative law judge denying the application of
Christina M. Pasanen (“Pasanen”) for a period of disability, disability insurance
benefits, and supplemental security income, and remand this matter for further
proceedings, and it appearing that neither Pasanen nor the Commissioner of Social
Security (“Commissioner”) object to the report, see FED. R. CIV. P. 72(b)(2), and that
the Commissioner expressly waived the opportunity to do so, (see Doc. 13), and the
court noting that failure to timely object to a magistrate judge’s conclusions “may

1

Due to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, 5 U.S.C. § 3345 et seq., former
acting Commissioner of Social Security Nancy A. Berryhill is currently presiding
as the Deputy Commissioner for Operations of the Social Security Administration.
For consistency purposes, however, we continue to refer to Ms. Berryhill as “the
Commissioner.

result in forfeiture of de novo review at the district court level,” Nara v. Frank, 488
F.3d 187, 194 (3d Cir. 2007) (citing Henderson v. Carlson, 812 F.2d 874, 878-79 (3d
Cir. 1987)), but that, as a matter of good practice, a district court should “afford
some level of review to dispositive legal issues raised by the report,” Henderson, 812
F.2d at 878; see also Taylor v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 83 F. Supp. 3d 625, 626 (M.D. Pa.
2015) (citing Univac Dental Co. v. Dentsply Int’l, Inc., 702 F. Supp. 2d 465, 469 (M.D.
Pa. 2010)), in order to “satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the
record,” FED. R. CIV. P. 72(b), advisory committee notes, and, following review of the
record, the court being in agreement with Judge Saporito’s recommendation, and
concluding that there is no clear error on the face of the record, it is hereby
ORDERED that:
1.

The report (Doc. 12) of Magistrate Judge Saporito is ADOPTED.

2.

The Clerk of Court shall enter judgment in favor of plaintiff
Christina M. Pasanen, and against the Commissioner of Social
Security (“Commissioner”) as set forth in the following paragraph.

3.

The Commissioner’s decision is VACATED and this matter is
REMANDED to the Commissioner with instructions to conduct a new
administrative hearing, develop the record fully, and evaluate the
evidence appropriately in accordance with this order and the report
(Doc. 12) of Magistrate Judge Saporito.

4.

The Clerk of Court is directed to CLOSE this case.

/S/ CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER
Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge
United States District Court
Middle District of Pennsylvania