Alexis Bell v. Nancy Berryhill, 694 F. App'x 490

Alexis Bell, proceeding pro se, appealed the denial of child’s disability insurance benefits under Title II; she needed to show disability onset before age 22 (1994) and dependency on the insured.
Administrative record contained no medical evidence from the period before 1994; ALJ found Bell not credible and denied benefits.
Commissioner contacted multiple providers and institutions; records from the relevant period were unavailable due to passage of time.
Bell sought a sentence-six remand to add new exhibits (A–E); some exhibits were post-1994 records or already in the administrative record.
The district court affirmed the Commissioner’s denial and denied Bell’s remand motion; Bell appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether ALJ failed to develop the record about disability onset before age 22	Bell argued the ALJ did not adequately develop the record given lack of pre-1994 medical evidence and her pro se status and mental illness	Commissioner argued reasonable efforts were made to obtain old records and missing records justified absence of pre-1994 evidence	Court held Commissioner satisfied duty to develop the record given reasonable efforts to contact providers and the historical gap in records
Whether district court abused discretion by denying a sentence-six remand for new evidence	Bell argued Exhibits B–E were new, material, and she had good cause for late submission	Commissioner argued Exhibit A already was in the administrative record; B–E were either immaterial, post-date the relevant period, or not shown to be timely submitted with good cause	Court held no abuse: Exhibit A already considered; Exhibits D–E post-date insured period and are not material; Bell failed to show good cause for late submission
Whether ALJ properly discounted treating/examining opinions that relied on Bell’s history	Bell contended provider opinions supported disability	Commissioner argued those opinions relied largely on Bell’s self-reports and thus were undermined by ALJ’s adverse credibility finding	Court held ALJ permissibly discounted opinions that depended on claimant’s discredited self-reports

Astrue v. Capato, 132 S. Ct. 2021 (U.S. 2012) (qualification rules for child’s insurance benefits and requirement of disability onset before age 22)
Mayes v. Massanari, 276 F.3d 453 (9th Cir. 2001) (ALJ must develop record further when evidence is inadequate)
Tonapetyan v. Halter, 242 F.3d 1144 (9th Cir. 2001) (heightened duty to develop record for pro se claimants and those with mental illness)
Brewes v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec. Admin., 682 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir. 2012) (Appeals Council consideration of evidence makes it part of the administrative record)
Wood v. Burwell, 837 F.3d 969 (9th Cir. 2016) (sentence-six remand requires materiality and good cause for late evidence)
Turner v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 613 F.3d 1217 (9th Cir. 2010) (post-insured-date opinions are not probative of pre-insured disability)
Ghanim v. Colvin, 763 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2014) (ALJ may discount provider opinion that is based largely on claimant’s self-reports when claimant is not credible)