Filed: Nov. 08, 2013
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Case: 13-11451 Date Filed: 11/08/2013 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 13-11451 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 5:12-cv-00075-PRL LARRY E. KUNZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (November 8, 2013) Before HULL, PRYOR and JORDAN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Larry E. Kunz appeals the denial of hi
Summary: Case: 13-11451 Date Filed: 11/08/2013 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 13-11451 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 5:12-cv-00075-PRL LARRY E. KUNZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (November 8, 2013) Before HULL, PRYOR and JORDAN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Larry E. Kunz appeals the denial of his..
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Case: 13-11451 Date Filed: 11/08/2013 Page: 1 of 4
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 13-11451
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 5:12-cv-00075-PRL
LARRY E. KUNZ,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,
Defendant-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(November 8, 2013)
Before HULL, PRYOR and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Larry E. Kunz appeals the denial of his application for disability insurance
Case: 13-11451 Date Filed: 11/08/2013 Page: 2 of 4
benefits and supplemental security income. 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g), 1383(c)(3).
Kunz challenges the hypothetical questions posed to the vocational expert. We
affirm.
Kunz argues that the question posed to the vocational expert failed to
account for Kunz’s moderate difficulties in maintaining concentration, persistence,
or pace, but we disagree. Kunz testified that his functional limitations were
impaired by his troubles sleeping, quick temper, mood swings, and “people
phobi[a],” but the administrative law judge discredited Kunz’s “statements
concerning the intensity, persistence and limiting effects of [his] symptoms . . . to
the extent they [were] inconsistent” with his testimony about watching television,
reading, and performing housework daily and with his statements to Dr. Celine
Passeri that he made lists to compensate for his poor memory skills, operated a
vehicle, went on dates occasionally, and volunteered weekly at the American
Legion. The finding of the administrative law judge was consistent with the
opinions of Dr. Pamela Green and Dr. Theodore Weber, who performed mental
residual functional capacity assessments, that Kunz could understand and
remember simple instructions, concentrate on and perform simple tasks, and
interact with others briefly. The administrative law judge found that Kunz’s
moderate difficulties restricted his ability to work to the extent that he could only
comprehend and perform simple routine tasks and interact with others
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Case: 13-11451 Date Filed: 11/08/2013 Page: 3 of 4
occasionally, and the administrative law judge included those limitations in the
hypothetical question. See Winschel v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec.,
631 F.3d 1176, 1181
(11th Cir. 2011) (remanding because the hypothetical question failed to mention
that the applicant was limited in concentration, persistence, and pace or to
“otherwise implicitly account for the limitation”). The vocational expert
understood and considered Kunz’s moderate limitations in maintaining
concentration, persistence, and pace.
Kunz also argues that the hypothetical questions were incomplete because
the administrative law judge did not mention that Kunz had a prosthetic leg that
created blisters if worn too long, but again we disagree. The hypothetical
questions “need only include the claimant’s impairments, not each and every
symptom of the claimant.” Ingram v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec. Admin.,
496 F.3d
1253, 1270 (11th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The
administrative law judge credited Kunz’s testimony that he could not wear his
prosthetic leg more than two hours a day and ambulated more easily with crutches
or a cane and the opinion of Dr. Sunita Patel, who conducted Kunz’s residual
functional capacity assessment, that Kunz could stand, walk, and sit six hours a
work day and climb ramps and stairs, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and crawl
occasionally, but never climb ladders, ropes, or scaffolds. The administrative law
judge included in his hypothetical questions all the impairments identified by Dr.
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Patel and added the restrictions that the hypothetical person underwent a below-
the-knee amputation, used a cane to ambulate, and was limited to sedentary work.
Although the administrative law judge did not mention Kunz’s prosthesis, Kunz
asked the vocational expert to assume that the hypothetical person could wear a
prosthesis for only two hours a day, and the vocational expert responded that the
jobs he identified would not require a worker to ambulate. The vocational expert
stated that “some” of the jobs required the worker to sit and stand at will, and the
administrative law judge was entitled to find from Kunz’s testimony that he could
sit and stand at will using his prosthesis, crutches, or cane. The answers of the
vocational expert provided substantial evidence to support the finding that Kunz
could perform the requirements of a small products assembler, trimmer, nut sorter,
or dowel inspector.
We AFFIRM the denial of Kunz’s application for benefits.
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