Renai Mason v. Andrew Saul

BACKGROUND

Renai M. (“Plaintiff”) applied for Disability Insurance Benefits on January 25, 2017, and Supplemental Security Income on February 1, 2017, alleging disability beginning November 30, 2015. See Dkt. 17, Administrative Record (“AR”) 163-77.1 The claims were denied initially on April 24, 2017, after which Plaintiff requested and received a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) on October 26, 2018. See AR 39-76, 98-110.

1 The Court partially redacts Plaintiff’s name in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c)(2)(B) and the recommendation of the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Additionally, all citations to the AR are to the record pagination. All other docket citations are to the CM/ECF pagination. The ALJ denied Plaintiff's claim by written decision on April 17, 2019. See AR 24-38. The ALJ followed the five-step sequential evaluation process for determining whether an individual is disabled. At step one, the ALJ found that Plaintiff had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since her alleged disability onset date. See AR 30. At step two, the ALJ determined that…