Opinion
ORDER
EDMUND F. BRENNAN, Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff seeks judicial review of a final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security ("Commissioner") denying her application for Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") under Title XVI of the Social Security Act. The parties' cross-motions for summary judgment are pending. In her motion for summary judgment, plaintiff argues, among other things, that the Commissioner failed to file a complete record as required by 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), by not including all of the evidence relied upon by the administrative law judge ("ALJ") in his decision denying her application for SSI. ECF No. 15-1 at 12-14. Specifically, the Commissioner submitted a draft (including editorial comments to correct typographical errors) rather than final version of a decision by an ALJ that was relied upon in issuing the decision that is now before the court for review.
Plaintiff previously filed an application for SSI on June 2, 2008, alleging that she had been disabled since July 12, 2002. Administrative Record ("AR") 91. On February 22, 2010, Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") Timothy S. Snelling apparently issued a decision finding that plaintiff was not disabled under section 1614(a)(3)(A) of the Act. Id. at 88-101. A copy of the final version of that decision has not been included in the record before the court and the Commissioner has not otherwise filed a copy.
According to the Commissioner, plaintiff did not appeal that decision.
Plaintiff filed a new application for SSI on June 25, 2010, alleging disability since June 12, 2008. After a hearing on her claim of disability, the assigned ALJ, William C. Thompson, issued a decision finding that plaintiff was not disabled under section 1614(a)(3)(A) of the Act. Id. at 13-27. Significantly, in reaching this decision, the ALJ relied heavily on ALJ Snelling's prior decision, which concluded that plaintiff was not disabled on or before February 22, 2010. However, the administrative record filed in this case does not contain the final decision issued by ALJ Snelling in plaintiff's prior SSI case. Instead, the record contains what appears to be a draft of ALJ Snelling's decision. AR 91-98. The document contains notations in the margins with proposed corrections and while purporting to bears "/s/" on the signature line it is not actually signed by ALJ Snelling. Furthermore, there are so many editorial comments calling for further edits and corrections to the document that there is no reason to conclude that the ALJ intended that version to serve as a final decision. There is simply no evidence to authenticate that the unsigned version is in fact the final decision issued by ALJ Snelling.
The absence of a copy of the final decision issued by ALJ Snelling was raised by plaintiff in her motion for summary judgment. The Commissioner's cross-motion for summary judgment does not squarely address this concern and glosses over the fact that only a working draft is contained in the record. Given ALJ Thompson's heavy reliance on ALJ Snelling's prior decision, a properly authenticated final version of Snelling's decision should have been included in the administrative record so that the court could properly evaluate the merits of plaintiff's argument. As it was not, the Commissioner is ordered to file by March 4, 2015, a final and signed copy of ALJ Snelling's February 22, 2010 decision.