Local Rule 8.1.A: Social Security Cases: Service, Answer, and Schedule

8.1.A Social Security Cases: Service, Answer, and Schedule

(a) Service. In cases arising under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) or 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3), the plaintiff will file a Complaint with the Clerk, along with a Social Security Identification Form containing the full name and complete Social Security number of the plaintiff, including that of a minor plaintiff not otherwise identified by his or her full name. If the plaintiff's application for Social Security benefits was filed on another person's wage-record, that person's full name and Social Security number shall also be provided. The identifying information is necessary for the Commissioner to obtain and produce the certified administrative record. The Social Security Identification Form will be lodged in CM/ECF as a restricted document and sent via Notice of Electronic Filing to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio and Regional Counsel for the Social Security Administration through the CM/ECF system. After the Administrative Record is filed, the Clerk shall remove the Social Security Identification Form from the docket.

Service will be considered complete when the CM/ECF system generates electronic service of the Complaint and Social Security Identification Form on the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio and Regional Counsel for the Social Security Administration. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio and the Regional Counsel for the Social Security Administration agree not to raise insufficient service as a defense if service of those documents is made electronically through the CM/ECF system. The agreement not to raise insufficient service as a defense is intended to more efficiently move the processing of Social Security disability cases through the litigation life cycle. Nothing in S.D. Ohio Civ. R. 8.1(a) shall be deemed a waiver of service under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d). Rule 8.1(a) does not apply to any other complaints or claims besides Social Security disability claims against the Commissioner of Social Security in his or her official capacity under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) or 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3).

(b) Answer. In all Social Security cases filed under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) or 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3), the defendant must file and serve on the plaintiff a certified copy of the administrative record within sixty days after service of the complaint, which copy shall serve as the answer. The defendant may raise any affirmative defense in a motion to dismiss, which may be filed instead of or contemporaneously with the administrative record.

(c) Schedule. Within forty-five days after service of the administrative record, the plaintiff must file and serve a statement of errors setting forth the bases upon which the plaintiff seeks reversal or remand. Within forty-five days following service of the statement of errors, the defendant must file and serve a memorandum in opposition to the plaintiff's statement of errors. The plaintiff may file and serve a reply memorandum within fifteen days of service of the defendant's memorandum in opposition. All briefing must include references to the administrative record.

(d) Pinpoint Citations. When citing to the administrative record in Social Security cases, parties must provide pinpoint citations to the administrative record, regardless of whether a party also chooses to provide PageID citations.