Katherine K. BANTA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, Secretary, Defendant-Appellee

The Secretary of Health and Human Services denied Katherine K. Banta’s application for disability benefits. She sought review of that decision in the district court, but she filed her action more than sixty days after the Appeals Council denied her request for review of an adverse determination by an Administrative Law Judge. The district court dismissed her action as untimely.

After denial of her application but before a decision was rendered by the Appeals Council on her request for review, Banta had submitted a memorandum purporting to raise additional points. The Appeals Council rendered its decision, then notified Banta that her additional evidence did not warrant vacation of that decision. Banta contends that this response constituted a new final decision which restarted the time for filing her claim in the district court. We hold that the Council’s review of a claimant’s submission of additional evidence in order to determine whether it warrants reconsideration of a previously rendered decision does not extend the time for initiating an action in the district court, and we affirm.

I

An' Administrative Law Judge denied Banta’s application for disability benefits on…