Waggoner

MEMORANDUM *

In 1988 Waggoner filed for disability insurance benefits under Title II and, in 1989 and 1994, for supplemental security income (“SSI”) benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 401-33 , 1381-83Í. To establish entitlement to Title II benefits, he needed to prove that he was disabled on or before December 31, 1988, his last date of insured status. There is no onset date requirement for his SSI application.

Dennis Waggoner has suffered from severe back pain aggravated by multiple industrial injuries since the early 1980s. The assessment of his disability status has been complicated by his addiction to pain medications, leading him to he to his doctors in order to obtain more medication. Largely based on this fact, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) rejected Waggoner’s claim that he has been disabled since his last date of insured status, December 31, 1988, but found that Waggoner was eligible for SSI benefits beginning April 14, 1994. This court “must independently *710 determine whether the Commissioner’s decision (1) is free of legal error and (2) is supported by substantial evidence.” Smolen v. Chater, 80 F.3d 1273, 1279 (9th…