SMITH v. COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY (2019)

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Ricky Lee SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 17-5809

Decided: July 17, 2019

Before: MERRITT, GRIFFIN, and DONALD, Circuit Judges Wolodymyr Iwan Cybriwsky, Law Office, Prestonsburg, KY, Andrew John Pincus, Mayer Brown, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellant Laura Hope Holland, Social Security Administration, Office of General Counsel, Denver, CO, for Defendant-Appellee Deepak Gupta, Gupta Wessler, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Supreme Court Appointed Amicus

ORDER

Plaintiff Ricky Lee Smith applied for social security disability benefits in 2012. After his claim was dismissed on the merits by an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration in 2014, Smith sought review by the Administration’s Appeals Council. The Appeals Council determined that Smith’s appeal was untimely, and it dismissed his request for review. Smith then sought judicial review in the Eastern District of Kentucky, but the district court held it lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit. A panel of this court affirmed, holding that “an Appeals Council decision to refrain from considering an untimely petition for review is not a ‘final decision’ subject to judicial review in federal court” under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Smith v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 880 F.3d 813, 814 (6th Cir. 2018). The Supreme Court granted Smith’s petition for certiorari and reversed. Smith v. Berryhill, ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S. Ct. 1765, ––– L.Ed.2d –––– (2019). Accordingly, the case is remanded to the district court for consideration of Smith’s case in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.