Fidencio CHAVEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee

Fidencio Chavez appeals the grant of summary judgment upholding an administrative law judge’s finding that he was not disabled.

Chavez was born on November 24, 1928, and completed four years of formal education in Mexico. He worked as an equipment operator for the Arizona Department of Highways from 1966 to 1981 and was most recently employed as a backhoe operator. He first injured his back in 1970 while attempting to lift a 20-pound rock which the backhoe could not extract. In 1981, he sustained a compression fracture of two vertebrae when his backhoe turned over on him.

On June 1, 1982, Chavez first filed for Social Security disability insurance benefits. On March 30, 1983, Administrative Law Judge Duty awarded Chavez a closed period of disability from March 3, 1981 through May 1982, based upon disability continuing through March 1982. Judge Duty found that Chavez then was unable to return to and perform his past work but that he was able to engage in a wide range of at least light substantial gainful employment. Because the claimant did not appeal this decision, it became final and binding. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.905 (1986); Taylor v. Heckler, 765 F.2d 872, 875 (9th…