John Ceal Folk, III v. Social Security Administration, Commissioner, No. 22-10500 (11th Cir. 2022)
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USCA11 Case: 22-10500 Date Filed: 09/12/2022 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-10500 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ JOHN CEAL FOLK, III, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, COMMISSIONER, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 4:20-cv-00902-GMB ____________________ USCA11 Case: 22-10500 2 Date Filed: 09/12/2022 Page: 2 of 3 Opinion of the Court 22-10500 Before JORDAN, LUCK, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: John Folk appeals the district court’s order affirming the Social Security Commissioner’s denial of his claims for a period of disability and disability insurance benefits. He argues that the administrative law judge failed to accord proper weight to the opinion of his treating physician, Dr. Farrukh Jamil, and failed to show good cause in doing so. We affirm. The district court affirmed the Commissioner’s decision on two alternative and separate grounds. First, Mr. Folk abandoned the “proper weight” argument by making a perfunctory claim and failing to provide substantive analysis. See D.E. 20 at 8-9. Second, even if Mr. Folk did not abandon the “proper weight” argument, the ALJ had good cause for assigning little weight to Dr. Jamil’s statements and opinions. See id. at 9-12. On appeal, Mr. Folk challenges the second of these grounds, but he does not mention or address the first. See Appellant’s Br. at 7-20. “To obtain reversal of a district court judgment that is based on multiple, independent grounds, an appellant must convince us that every stated ground for the judgment against him is incorrect. When an appellant fails to challenge properly on appeal one of the grounds on which the district court based its judgment, he is deemed to have abandoned any challenge of that ground, and it USCA11 Case: 22-10500 22-10500 Date Filed: 09/12/2022 Opinion of the Court Page: 3 of 3 3 follows that the judgment is due to be affirmed.” Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680 (11th Cir. 2014). Because Mr. Folk has failed to argue that the district court’s first ground— that he had abandoned the “proper weight” argument—was erroneous, we affirm. AFFIRMED.
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