United States District Court, D. Colorado
ROBERT J. NOXON, Plaintiff,
v.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION[1], Defendant.
ORDER REVERSING ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE'S
DECISION AND REMANDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE AWARD OF
BENEFITS
WILLIAM J. MARTÍNEZ JUDGE.
This is
a Social Security Benefits appeal brought under 42 U.S.C.
§ 405(g). Plaintiff Robert J. Noxon
(“Plaintiff”) challenges the final decision of
Defendant, the Social Security Administration
(“Administration”), denying his application for
period of disability and disability insurance benefits. After
a hearing, the denial was affirmed by an administrative law
judge (“ALJ”), who ruled that Plaintiff was not
disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. This
appeal followed.
For the
reasons set forth below, the Administration's decision to
deny Plaintiff's application for disability insurance
benefits is reversed and this matter is remanded for an
immediate award of benefits.
I.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff
was born on 1956 and was 59 years old on the date last
insured. (Administrative Record (“R.”) (ECF No.
11) at 347.) Plaintiff grew up in Colorado and has a
bachelor's degree in education and pastoral ministry, and
some vocational training. (R. at 245, 340.) Plaintiff has
held 25 jobs in the last 14 years. (R. at 124-30.) His past
relevant work experience includes a broad range of
professions, including school teacher, sales clerk, pharmacy
technician, and shuttle bus driver. (R. at 347.) Plaintiff
claims that he has been disabled since September 1, 2012 due
to a combination of mental health impairments including
bipolar disorder (depressed without psychosis), anxiety
disorder, dependent personality disorder, and ADHD. (R. at
339; ECF No. 15 at 6.)
Plaintiff
began treatment with Mr. Ronald Baptist, M.A., LPC in 2004.
Mr. Baptist provided treatment including psychotherapy,
cognitive behavioral therapy, and eye movement
desensitization and reprocessing. (R. at 824-27.) Plaintiff
had regular sessions with Mr. Baptist from August 18, 2004
through November 9, 2004, July 7, 2005 through April 18,
2006, and from September 2009 to the present. (R. at 185,
824-27.) Plaintiff has had at least 289 one-hour
sessions with Mr. Baptist as of the time of filing this
appeal. (R. at 316-17, 824-27.) Mr. Baptist consistently
observed that Plaintiff demonstrated agitation, a tangential
and disconnected verbal style, and an awkward interpersonal
style alternating between states of relatively normal
presentation and obvious anxiety and insecurity. (R. at 189.)
Mr. Baptist explained that Plaintiff comes across as very
normal, but then he “gets triggered and he starts
building stress, rejection, and struggling with his sense of
being [inadequate] and being dependent. . . . and then it
usually leads to frustration, and the next thing is some kind
of anger outburst.” (R. at 320.)
Mr.
Baptist noted that “for most of the time that
[Plaintiff] is awake and aware, he is experiencing a
significant amount of anxiety.” (R. at 319.)
Plaintiff's anxiety and dependent personality disorder
impacts all aspects of Plaintiff's life. (R. at 319.)
This combination of mental health issues leads to a
troublesome, ineffective, and dysfunctional way of relating
to people. (R. at 322.) This interferes with his personal
relationships and leads to difficulty with supervisors. (R.
at 319, 323-24.) For instance, Plaintiff plays the saxophone,
but cannot work with other musicians because he fails to
maintain those relationships-ultimately Baptist had to stop
encouraging him to seek band mates because these
relationships would “end in some kind of
trouble.” (R. at 326.)
Mr.
Baptist further noted that even on Ritalin, Plaintiff
struggled to focus. (R. at 326-27.) This would manifest in
conversation, where Plaintiff would get sidetracked,
tangential, and off-focus, “even when he's doing
fairly well.” (Id.) Moreover, Mr. Baptist
observed that changes in a routine work setting cause
Plaintiff distress and that some of Plaintiff's job
losses were directly related to his panic when a policy was
changed. (R. at 328.)
Mr.
Baptist opined-after at least 289 sessions with
Plaintiff-that as a result of his mental health impairments,
Plaintiff would be precluded from performing the following
functions for at least 20% of the workday:
• perform activities within a schedule, maintain regular
attendance, and be punctual within customary tolerances, and
• respond appropriately to changes in a routine work
setting. (R. at 187.)
Mr.
Baptist further opined that Plaintiff would be precluded from
performing the following functions for at least 15% of the
workday:
• remember work-like procedures
• maintain attention and concentration for extended
periods,
• sustain an ordinary routine without special
supervision,
• make simple work-related decisions,
• perform at a consistent pace without an unreasonable
number and length of breaks, and
• accept instructions and respond appropriately to
criticism from supervisors. (Id.)
Plaintiff
also saw a psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Mueller, M.D., about
once every one to three months, beginning in 2010. (R. at
622.) Dr. Mueller diagnosed Plaintiff with bipolar disorder
(depressed, not psychotic), generalized anxiety disorder,
attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, and dependent
personality disorder. (R. at 232.) Dr. Mueller also adjusted
Plaintiff's psychiatric medications, which included
Depakote, Celexa, and Ritalin. Dr. Mueller observed that
Plaintiff would blow up, throw things, get angry, yell, hit
tables, and had lashed out at his mother and ex-wife-his
girlfriend had to call the police when Plaintiff hit his
girlfriend's window with a stick. (R. at 653-54.)
According to Dr. Mueller, Plaintiff was depressed, extremely
lonely, “gets an attitude too quickly, ” never
wants to be single, and has suicidal thoughts when rejected.
(Id.)
Additionally,
Plaintiff had two emergency room visits for anxiety.
(Id.) Between 2011 and 2015, Plaintiff was fired
from seven jobs for angry outbursts. (R. at 631-644.) In
2015, Plaintiff got a new job, which he held until the time
of the second hearing in 2017. (R. at 626.) He managed to
sustain this job because he worked part time and was given
significant accommodations, including a flexible schedule.
(R. at 538-541.) In early 2017, Dr. Mueller maintained that
Plaintiff was only capable of low stress, part time work. (R.
at 756.)
Dr.
Mueller also found that Plaintiff has marked impairments in
his ability to do the following:
• understand and learn terms, instructions, and
procedures,
• identify and solve problems,
• sequence multi-step activities,
• use reason and judgment to make work-related
...