Jeffrey E. Greenway v. MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent*
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JEFFREY E. GREENWAY,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of
Social Security,
Defendant - Appellee.
No. 08-35964
D.C. No. 2:07-cv-00241-RSM
MEMORANDUM *
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Washington
Ricardo S. Martinez, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 4, 2009
Seattle, Washington
Before: FERNANDEZ, KLEINFELD and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.
Jeffrey Greenway seeks disability insurance benefits, claiming that he
became disabled by schizophrenia before his disability insurance lapsed on June
30, 1982. The district court affirmed the decision of the Appeals Council, which
FILED
NOV 20 2009
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C OU R T OF APPE ALS

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adopted the ALJ’s recommended decision denying benefits. We review de novo a
district court’s order upholding the Commissioner’s denial of benefits. See Rollins
v. Massanari, 261 F.3d 853, 855 (9th Cir. 2001). For the reasons stated below, we
affirm.
Greenway argues that the ALJ failed to comply with his duty to fully and
fairly develop the record because he did not document his efforts to obtain more of
Greenway’s medical records from the late 1970s. The record indicates that the
ALJ questioned Greenway at length regarding his hospitalization period, and asked
him for possible sources of additional medical records. The record also shows that
the ALJ made independent (if unsuccessful) efforts to locate additional medical
records for Greenway. Thus, the ALJ fulfilled his duty to develop the record. See
Widmark v. Barnhart, 454 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2006).
The ALJ’s determination that Greenway did not have a medically
determinable impairment was supported by substantial evidence in the record. See
Burch v. Barnhart, 400 F.3d 676, 679 (9th Cir. 2005); Ukolov v. Barnhart, 420
F.3d 1002, 1005-06 (9th Cir. 2005). The available records documenting
Greenway’s mental health during the relevant period supported theALJ’s
conclusion that Greenway did not have schizophrenia or any other medically
determinable severe impairment for a duration of least twelve months prior to the

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date on which his disability insurance lapsed. Although Greenway was found
disabled in 1988 for purposes of receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits,
the basis for that disability finding is not in the record. Greenway argues that
because he was later diagnosed with schizophrenia in the mid-to-late 1990s, the
ALJ was required to consult a medical expert to determine the onset date of his
schizophrenia. As discussed above, however, Greenway’s limited medical records
from 1978-1980 do not contain medical evidence supporting a diagnosis of
schizophrenia, and there are no medical records available for Greenway from
between 1980 and 1996. Greenway himself testified that he did not receive any
treatment for mental illness from at least 1980 to 1988. Thus, the administrative
law judge was not required to call a medical expert because there were insufficient
medical records from which a medical expert could reasonably have drawn the
conclusion that Greenway’s onset date was prior to the date on which his insurance
lapsed in 1982.
AFFIRMED.

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