Deborah Oberg v. Michael Astrue

MEMORANDUM

Deborah J.M. Oberg appeals the district court’s judgment, which affirmed the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of disability insurance benefits. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

(1) Before making the current application, Oberg had applied for disability insurance benefits and the Commissioner had determined that she was not disabled for the period ending July 31, 2003, the date of the decision in that case. In this case, therefore, that determination is res judicata and creates a presumption that she was not disabled for the present peri-' od, which she claimed began May 23, 2003, and ended June 30, 2005, when her Social Security disability insurance coverage terminated. See Miller v. Heckler, 770 F.2d 845, 848 (9th Cir.1985); see also Vasquez v. Astrue, 572 F.3d 586, 597 (9th Cir.2009). As Oberg notes, that does not apply when the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has reopened the prior period expressly or de facto. See Lewis v. Apfel, 236 F.3d 503, 510 (9th Cir.2001); Krumpelman v. Heckler, 767 F.2d 586, 589 (9th Cir.1985). However, on this record, the ALJ made it clear that he was not reopening the prior decision when he plainly stated that the…