Joseph A. C. v. Kijakazi
- John Tunheim
- 0:20-cv-02246
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Joseph A. C. v. Kijakazi, Judge Wright granted the remand motion, reversed the ALJ’s decision, and remanded the case.
Joseph A. C.’s Social Security disability claim was sent back to the Acting Commissioner for further administrative action; the administrative law judge’s denial was reversed.
What happened
Joseph A. C. applied for Social Security disability benefits, but an administrative law judge denied the application. The Appeals Council later affirmed that decision. In Joseph A. C. v. Kijakazi, the Acting Commissioner asked the court to reverse and send the case back for further administrative action, and the motion was unopposed.
The court granted the Commissioner’s motion. It reversed the administrative law judge’s decision and remanded the case under a provision of federal law that permits a court to send a Social Security decision back for further proceedings. The clerk was also directed to terminate Joseph A. C.’s motion for summary judgment.
Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright issued the order on October 6, 2021. The order did not decide whether Joseph A. C. is entitled to disability benefits; it returned the matter to the Acting Commissioner for further administrative action.
The detailed version
- Joseph A. C. v. Kijakazi · No. 0:20-cv-02246
- John Tunheim
- Oct. 6, 2021
Background
An administrative law judge denied Joseph A. C.’s application for Social Security disability benefits on February 3, 2020. The Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council affirmed the administrative law judge’s decision. The Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Kilolo Kijakazi, then filed an unopposed motion asking the court to reverse and remand the case under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
Court’s analysis
Section 405(g) authorizes a federal district court to affirm, modify, or reverse a decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, with or without sending the case back for a rehearing. The court explained that a sentence-four remand must accompany a final judgment reversing, modifying, or affirming the administrative decision. Because the Commissioner’s motion was unopposed, the court concluded that reversing and remanding the administrative law judge’s decision was warranted.
Disposition
The court granted Kijakazi’s unopposed motion for remand. It reversed the administrative law judge’s decision and remanded the case to the Acting Commissioner for further administrative action under sentence four of Section 405(g). The clerk was directed to terminate Joseph A. C.’s motion for summary judgment. The order did not determine whether Joseph A. C. qualifies for disability benefits.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.