IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION

GERALD M. LETT, :

Plaintiff, :

vs. : CA 21-0478-MU

KILOLO KIJAKAZI, : Acting Commissioner of Social Security, : Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER This matter is before the Court1on the Commissioner of Social Security’s unopposed motion to reverse and remand this action pursuant to sentence four of

(g), filed April 25, 2022 (see Doc. 16).2 In her motion, the Commissioner of Social Security represents that it is her belief that this case should be remanded for further administrative proceedings. (Id., PageID. 1120). “On remand, the Appeals Council will instruct the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to: (1) reconsider Plaintiff’s impairments at step two of the sequential evaluation [process] and determine if Plaintiff’s medically determinable impairment of malignant colon neoplasm was a severe

1 The parties have consented to the exercise of jurisdiction by the Magistrate Judge, pursuant to

(c), for all proceedings in this Court. (Doc. 17 (“In accordance with provisions of

(c) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 73, the parties in this case consent to have a United States magistrate judge conduct any and all proceedings in this case, . . . order the entry of a final judgment, and conduct all post-judgment proceedings.”); see also Doc. 18 (order of reference)).

2 The Commissioner contacted counsel for the Plaintiff and reports that Plaintiff’s attorney has no opposition to this motion. (See

PageID. 1120). impairment during the period at issue; (2) reconsider whether Plaintiff’s impairments meet or equal the Listings, including Listing 13.18, obtaining the opinion of a medical expert if needed; (3) reassess the medical opinion evidence; (4) reconsider Plaintiff’s residual functional capacity; (5) if warranted, obtain vocational expert evidence; (6) offer Plaintiff the opportunity for a new hearing; and (7) issue a new decision.” (Id.).

The plain language of sentence four of

(g) empowers this Court “to enter, upon the pleadings and transcript of the record, a judgment affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing.” The Court therefore GRANTS the Defendant’s unopposed motion (Doc. 16) and the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security denying Lett benefits is reversed and remanded pursuant to sentence four of

(g), see Melkonyan v. Sullivan,

,

,

(1991), for further proceedings not inconsistent with this decision. The remand pursuant to sentence four of § 405(g) makes Plaintiff a prevailing party for

purposes of the Equal Access to Justice Act,

, see Shalala v. Schaefer,

,

,

(1993), and terminates this Court’s jurisdiction over this matter. DONE and ORDERED this the 27th day of April, 2022. s/P. Bradley Murray UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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