Switz v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration ( 2021 )

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Greta Switz, No. CV-21-00206-PHX-MTL 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Commissioner of Social Security Administration, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Unopposed Motion for Voluntary Remand 16 (Doc. 19). For the reasons that follow, the motion will be granted. 17 Plaintiff filed an application for disability insurance benefits on June 30, 2017, for 18 a period of disability beginning on May 1, 2016. (Doc. 14 at 2.) Her claim was denied 19 initially on December 8, 2017, and again upon reconsideration on May 29, 2018. (Id.) 20 Plaintiff appeared before an Administrate Law Judge (“ALJ”) for a hearing regarding her 21 claim on December 5, 2019, which the ALJ denied on March 11, 2020. (Id.) On December 22 14, 2020, the Appeals Council denied Plaintiff’s request for review, thus rendering the 23 agency’s decision final. (Id. at 3.) On February 8, 2021, Plaintiff timely filed the instant 24 action, seeking review of the agency’s decision. (Doc. 1.) 25 On November 3, 2021, Defendant filed the instant motion to remand this action to 26 the Commission for further administrative proceedings. (Doc. 19). The motion states that 27 “[t]he agency has further reviewed Plaintiff’s case and determined that remand for further 28 proceedings is warranted.” (Id. at 2.) The motion is unopposed. (Id.) 1 Sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) grants the Court “power to enter . . . ajudgment 2|| affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, || with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing.” Pursuant to that authority, the Court will grant Defendant’s unopposed motion. Because a “sentence-four” remand 1s treated as || a final judgment, the Court must enter judgment against Defendant. See Shalala v. 6 || Schaefer, 509 U.S. 292, 302-303 (1993) (holding that a sentence-four remand is a “final 7 || judgment” and that therefore “a ‘separate document’ of judgment should [be] entered” 8 |} upon such remand). 9 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED granting Defendant’s Unopposed Motion for || Voluntary Remand (Doc. 19). 11 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED reversing the Commissioner’s decision and 12} remanding the case to the Commissioner for further administrative proceedings. The Clerk 13} of the Court is directed to enter final judgment in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant and to close the case. 15 Dated this 1st day of December, 2021. 16 Michael i. □ burke Michael T. Liburdi 19 United States District Judge 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -2-