Begay v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

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WO
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
Pamela Begay,
Plaintiff,
v.
Commissioner of Social Security
Administration,
Defendant.
No. CV-24-08228-PCT-SMB
ORDER
The Court now considers Plaintiff Pamela Begay’s appeal from the Social Security
Administration’s denial of Plaintiff’s application for disability insurance benefits (“DIB”).
The Court reviewed the briefing, the Administrative Record (“AR”), and the
Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) decision (AR 15–27). The Court affirms the ALJ’s
decision for the following reasons.
I. BACKGROUND
This case relates to two applications. First, Plaintiff’s Title II application for DIB.
Second, Plaintiff’s Title XVI application for Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”).
A. Title II Application
On February 24, 2022, Plaintiff applied for DIB, alleging a disability onset date of
January 1, 2019. (AR 15.) In that application, Plaintiff noted that she also intended to
apply for SSI. (AR 199.) However, Plaintiff did not file an SSI application at the time.
(Doc. 10 at 2.)
Plaintiff’s DIB claim was denied initially on July 22, 2022, and upon
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reconsideration on May 9, 2023. (AR 15.) After an administrative hearing, an ALJ issued
an unfavorable decision on May 1, 2024, finding Plaintiff not disabled. (AR 26–27.) The
Appeals Council denied review of that decision, making the ALJ’s determination the final
decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. (AR 1–6.) Plaintiff
seeks review of the Commissioner’s decision pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
B. Title XVI Application
On March 1, 2024, Plaintiff applied for SSI under Title XVI. (AR 15.) That same
day, Plaintiff’s attorney requested that Plaintiff’s SSI application be considered
concurrently with her DIB claim. (Id.) The ALJ declined to escalate Plaintiff’s SSI
application, finding the two claims did not share an overlapping period of time. (Id.) The
ALJ explained that the DIB claim involved a time period from January 1, 2019 to March
31, 2020, and the SSI claim involved a time period beginning March 1, 2024 (the date she
filed her application). (Id.) Therefore, the ALJ did not consider Plaintiff’s SSI claim in
her May 1, 2024 decision. (Id.) Plaintiff’s SSI application is currently being processed.
(Doc. 17 at 1.)
II. LEGAL STANDARD
The Court only reviews the issues raised by the party challenging the ALJ’s
decision. See Lewis v. Apfel, 236 F.3d 503, 517 n.13 (9th Cir. 2001). The Court will
uphold an ALJ’s decision “unless it contains legal error or is not supported by substantial
evidence.” Orn v. Astrue, 495 F.3d 625, 630 (9th Cir. 2007). “Substantial evidence is
more than a mere scintilla but less than a preponderance” and is such that “a reasonable
mind might accept [it] as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. (first quoting Bayliss v.
Barnhart, 427 F.3d 1211, 1214 n.1 (9th Cir. 2005); and then quoting Burch v. Barnhart,
400 F.3d 676, 679 (9th Cir. 2005)). As a general rule, if the “evidence is susceptible to
more than one rational interpretation,” the Court will affirm the ALJ’s decision. Burch,
400 F.3d at 679. That said, the Court should “consider the entire record as a whole and
may not affirm simply by isolating a specific quantum of supporting evidence.” Orne, 495
F.3d at 630 (citation modified).
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III. DISCUSSION
Plaintiff’s appeal is puzzling. Her Complaint states she seeks review of the ALJ’s
denial of her Title II DIB claim. (Doc. 1 at 1.) But her Opening Brief does not challenge
the ALJ’s findings regarding this claim. (Doc. 10 at 2.) In fact, she concedes that the
denial was “reasonable.” (Id.) Rather, Plaintiff’s Opening Brief claims that the ALJ erred
in attributing a March 1, 2024 filing date to her SSI application instead of a protective filing
date of February 24, 2022—the date she notified the Social Security Administration, in her
DIB application, that she intended to also file an SSI application. (Id.) Then, Plaintiff’s
Reply Brief requests declaratory relief regarding her SSI application.
The Court begins with plaintiff’s protective filing date request, then turns to her
request for declaratory relief.
A. Protective Filing Date
If a social security claimant makes an oral or written inquiry about SSI benefits
before filing a formal written application, the Social Security Administration will send
notice that the claimant must file the intended application within sixty days of the notice.
See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.340, 416.345. This is known as a “close-out” notice. See Brooker v.
Colvin, No. 13-CV-05459-WHO(WHO), 2014 WL 3870043, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 6,
2014). If the claimant timely files the application after receiving the close-out notice, the
Social Security Administration will use the date of the initial inquiry as the filing date.
This is known as the protective filing date. In SSI applications the filing date is important
because SSI benefits “cannot precede the month following the month of application.”
Gonzalez v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., No. 1:25-CV-00034-KES-GSA, 2025 WL 2928696,
at *6 n.7 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 15, 2025). In other words, SSI payments cannot be made
retroactive to this date. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.203, 416.501.
As noted, Plaintiff filed her Title II claim on February 24, 2022. In that application,
Plaintiff informed the Social Security Administration that she intended to file an
application for SSI benefits. The Social Security Administration Program Operations
Manual System (“POMS”) states that “the title II application serves as an oral inquiry for
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SSI” benefits. SSA POMS SI 00601.027(B)(2). Thus, Plaintiff had sixty days from
receiving a close-out notice to file her Title XVI application to preserve her protective
filing date. Plaintiff concedes that, under the POMS, “applicants filing for title II benefits
receive SSI protective filing closeout language online.” See id.; SSA POMS GN
00201.005(E)(1) (“Online closeout language closes out the oral inquiry created by the Title
II application.”); (Doc. 10 at 11.) Therefore, Plaintiff had until April 25, 2022 to file her
Title XVI application to preserve the initial oral inquiry date.
Plaintiff did not file a formal written application until March 2024. She alleges she
was under the impression that someone from the Social Security Administration would
schedule an appointment with her to help her apply for SSI benefits after making her oral
inquiry, which did not happen. Apparently, while applying for Title II DIB online, Plaintiff
saw an information box stating: “Get Started to Apply for SSI.” (AR 309.) In this box, it
said: “This process takes about 5-10 minutes. We ask for basic information. After you
complete the online process, a Social Security representative schedules an appointment to
help you apply for benefits.” (Id.) Following this information, there is a “Get started”
button. (Id.) Plaintiff admits that this interface sends in “a request for contact from the
field office.” (Id.) Plaintiff does not allege that she filled out this form requesting contact
from the Social Security Administration. It appears seeing this information alone led
Plaintiff to believe the Social Security Administration would reach out to her regarding an
SSI application, even though she was only applying for Title II DIB benefits at the time.
(Doc. 10 at 8.)
Given this apparent illusion of a follow-up appointment, Plaintiff asks the Court to
“remand for reconsideration of the evidence in her SSI claim with a February 28, 2022
protective filing date.” (Doc. 10 at 13.) Defendant responds that this request is moot. “On
June 14, 2025, the field office sent Plaintiff’s SSI claim with the protective filing date of
March 25, 2021, to the State agency department of disability services for an initial medical
decision.” (Doc. 16 at 3.) This protective filing date is nearly a year earlier than Plaintiff’s
requested February 28, 2022 date. It appears Plaintiff was unaware of this development
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but accepts it as true. (Doc. 17 at 1.)
The Court agrees that the request is moot. Accordingly, the Court finds that remand
unnecessary.
B. Declaratory Relief
Plaintiff attempts to move the goalposts. For the first time, in her Reply brief,
Plaintiff states she is seeking declaratory relief that the Social Security Administration
violated her due process rights by failing to assist her in applying for SSI benefits in 2022.
This requested relief is absent from Plaintiff’s Complaint. “It is axiomatic that the
complaint may not be amended by the briefs.” Doe v. Wolf, 432 F. Supp. 3d 1200, 1215
(S.D. Cal. 2020) (citation modified). Therefore, Plaintiff’s requested relief is not properly
before the Court.
Even if it was, Plaintiff fails to allege a colorable constitutional claim, which is
required for this Court to exercise “jurisdiction over a non-final decision of the Social
Security Commissioner.” See Klemm v. Astrue, 543 F.3d 1139, 1144 (9th Cir. 2008). “A
constitutional claim is not colorable if it clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely
for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction or is wholly insubstantial or frivolous.” Anderson
v. Babbitt, 230 F.3d 1158, 1163 (9th Cir. 2000) (citation modified). The Court finds
Plaintiff’s due process argument wholly insubstantial.
A social security “claimant must show that, even in the event of a due process
violation, the violation prejudices his case.” Saadat-Moghaddam v. Colvin, No.
3:14-CV-5267-KLS, 2015 WL 457852, at *2 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 3, 2015) (citing Ludwig v.
Astrue, 681 F.3d 1047, 1055 (9th Cir. 2012)). Plaintiff contends she did not receive
close-out notice. (Doc. 10 at 9.) The POMS suggests that a Title II online applicant
receives this notice on the website. See SSA POMS GN 00201.005(E)(1). Regardless, the
Social Security Administration did not prejudice her ability to use the protective filing date
she seeks. In fact, it applied an even more generous date. See Thornton v. Astrue, No.
CV-09-0138-CI, 2010 WL 1904661, at *6 (E.D. Wash. May 12, 2010) (“Without a
showing of prejudice, the procedures adopted by the Social Security administration do not
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violate due process.”).
Finally, Plaintiff argues that the Social Security Administration’s delay in
processing her March 2024 SSI application is “unconscionable and unconstitutional.”
(Doc. 17 at 2.) As admitted by Defendant, the Social Security Administration sent
Plaintiff’s application to the pertinent state agency department for an initial medical
decision in June 2025. (Doc. 16 at 3.) It is not readily apparent to the Court that this
fifteen-month delay is unconstitutional.
Section 405(b) “requires administrative hearings to be held within a reasonable
time.” Heckler v. Day, 467 U.S. 104, 111 (1984). However, the Supreme Court recognizes
that “the time needed before a well-reasoned and sound disability hearing decision can be
made may vary widely on a case-by-case basis.” Id. at 115 (citation modified). “When
considering whether unusual administrative delay violates a claimant’s Fifth Amendment
rights, ‘[t]here is no talismanic number of years or months, after which due process is
automatically violated.’” Cummins v. Barnhart, 460 F. Supp. 2d 1112, 1120 (D. Ariz.
2006) (alteration in original) (quoting Coe v. Thurman, 922 F.2d 528, 531 (9th Cir. 1990)).
Importantly, “[a]dministrative irregularities beyond the delay alone are usually required.”
Id. Therefore, the Court agrees that “it would be the extremely rare case where a Court
would be justified in holding . . . that the passage of time and nothing more presents an
occasion for the peremptory intervention of an outside Court in the conduct of an agency’s
adjudicative proceedings.” FTC V. J. Weingarten, Inc., 336 F.2d 687, 692 (5th Cir. 1964)
(footnote omitted). Plaintiff’s case does not fall within these extremely rare cases.
Plaintiff merely alleges that a fifteen-month delay is unconstitutional. See Klemm,
543 F.3d at 1144 (“A mere allegation of a due process violation is not a colorable
constitutional claim” (citation modified)). She does not allege “other indications of a lack
of evenhandedness or a dilatory attitude on the part of the agency.” Wright v. Califano,
587 F.2d 345, 352 (7th Cir. 1978); see also Weingarten, 336 F.2d at 691 (“Absent proof of
the normal time necessary to dispose of a similar proceeding or of facts tending to show a
dilatory attitude on the part of the Commission or its staff—matters totally undeveloped on
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this record—we are unable to say that a Judge can so hold.”). Accordingly, the Court finds
that Plaintiff’s due process claim based on a delay of fifteen months—without any other
supporting allegations of irregularities—is not colorable. See Taverniti v. Astrue, No.
C04-04932 SBA, 2008 WL 8448336, at *16 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2008) (holding that a
plaintiff’s complaint regarding the Social Security Administration’s “one-and-a-half year
delay” alone did not state “a colorable constitutional claim of due process violation”).
In sum, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not alleged a colorable due process claim.
Therefore, the Court does not have jurisdiction to consider Plaintiff’s SSI claim.
Accordingly, Plaintiff must continue to exhaust her administrative remedies.
IV. CONCLUSION
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED the ALJ’s May 1, 2024 decision is affirmed.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk enter final judgment consistent with
this Order and close this case.
Dated this 17th day of February, 2026.
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