Clifton Hastings v. Commissioner Social Security Administration

MEMORANDUM

Clifton T. Hastings appeals pro se the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of Hastings’s third application for disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income under Titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

The district court did not err in holding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to decide whether the Commissioner failed to meet an obligation to retain the record of Hastings’s first application for benefits in 2000. The Commissioner’s retention or loss of records is not a “final decision” subject to review. See 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g); Dexter v. Colvin, 731 F.3d 977, 980 (9th Cir .2013).

The district court also lacked jurisdiction to consider whether the Commissioner set an incorrect onset date when granting Hastings’s subsequent, fourth application for benefits. The court had jurisdiction only to review the Commissioner’s final decision denying Hastings’s third application for benefits. See 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g); Dexter, 731 F.3d at 980 .

Hastings contends that the administrative law judge erred by failing to order IQ testing because…