Roberson v. Apfel

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT CLEVEN LEWIS ROBERSON,  Plaintiff-Appellant, v.  No. 00-1880 KENNETH S. APFEL, Commissioner of Social Security Administration, Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Marvin J. Garbis, District Judge. (CA-99-3544-MJG) Submitted: October 26, 2000 Decided: November 6, 2000 Before WIDENER, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL Cleven Lewis Roberson, Appellant Pro Se. Lynne Ann Battaglia, United States Attorney, Allen F. Loucks, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 ROBERSON v. APFEL OPINION PER CURIAM: Cleven Lewis Roberson appeals the district court’s dismissal with- out prejudice of his petition for judicial review of the denial of dis- ability benefits. We affirm. Roberson applied to the Social Security Administration ("SSA") for disability benefits. After an administrative law judge denied relief, Roberson sought review by the SSA’s Appeals Council. After waiting seven months for a decision by the Council, Roberson filed for judi- cial review. The district court dismissed, ruling it could not review an SSA action without a final decision by the Appeals Council. This decision was correct. See Sims v. Apfel, 120 S. Ct. 2080, 2083 (2000). In addition to challenging the denial of benefits, Roberson asserts on appeal that the district court and the SSA attorneys conducted themselves improperly. He cites only one example of such alleged impropriety: the district court’s allowing the SSA sixty rather than twenty days to answer Roberson’s complaint. In fact, Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(3) establishes a sixty-day deadline for federal agencies to file answers. Thus, we find no support for Roberson’s allegations of impropriety. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court. Further- more, we deny Roberson’s motions for "enforcement of an agency order" and for default judgment. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED