BRENDA MENDEZ V. CAROLYN COLVIN, No. 14-17323 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT DEC 19 2016 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK BRENDA S. MENDEZ, No. Plaintiff-Appellant, 14-17323 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS D.C. No. 2:13-cv-00838-NVW v. MEMORANDUM* CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Neil V. Wake, District Judge, Presiding Submitted December 15, 2016** San Francisco, California Before: KOZINSKI, BYBEE, and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges. Brenda S. Mendez appeals the decision of the district court remanding her Social Security disability insurance benefits claim for further proceedings before the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) rather than for a determination of benefits. * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). The district court did not abuse its discretion in remanding for further proceedings, because there are outstanding issues that must be resolved before a determination of disability can me made. Benecke v. Barnhart, 379 F.3d 587, 590, 593 (9th Cir. 2004). Here, the record presents “conflicting evidence, and not all essential factual issues have been resolved” by the ALJ, including (1) assessing Mendez’s credibility, (2) weighing the opinions of medical providers, and (3) incorporating Mendez’s residual functional capacity into the job descriptions presented by the vocational expert. See Treichler v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec. Admin., 775 F.3d 1090, 1101 (9th Cir. 2014). Therefore, remand for an award of benefits under the credit-as-true rule is inappropriate. See id. AFFIRMED. 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
