Henry R. KELLAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee

Henry R. Kellar appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“the Secretary”) upholding a denial of Supplemental Social Security Income (“SSI”) benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act (“the Act”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1381 , et seq. (1982). The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g) and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We reverse and remand.

Kellar, age 48 at the time of the hearing, has a ninth grade education. He has worked as a carpenter in high rise commercial buildings. Kellar last worked in 1979. Kellar applied for disability benefits on March 15, 1985. He claimed that alcoholism, diabetes, arthritis and other illnesses had rendered him totally disabled since October 1972. Kellar’s application was denied initially and on reconsideration. On April 15, 1986, an ALJ held an evidentiary hearing and denied the claim. The ALJ found that Kellar could not perform his past work as a carpenter. However, the ALJ determined that Kellar retained the residual functional capacity to perform light work and thus was not disabled under the medical-vocational guidelines (“grids”),…