JOHN E. McDERMOTT, Magistrate Judge.
On December 18, 2013, Rene Haro ("Plaintiff" or "Claimant") filed a complaint seeking review of the decision by the Commissioner of Social Security ("Commissioner") denying Plaintiff's application for Social Security Disability and Disability Insurance benefits. The Commissioner filed an Answer on April 14, 2014. On July 11, 2014, the parties filed a Joint Stipulation ("JS"). The matter is now ready for decision.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), both parties consented to proceed before this Magistrate Judge. After reviewing the pleadings, transcripts, and administrative record ("AR"), the Court concludes that the Commissioner's decision must be affirmed and this case dismissed with prejudice.
Plaintiff Rene Haro is a 56-year-old male who applied for Social Security Disability and Disability Insurance benefits on February 15, 2006, alleging disability beginning March 11, 2004. (AR 13, 596.) The ALJ determined that Plaintiff has not engaged in substantial gainful activity since March 11, 2004, the alleged onset date. (AR 15, 599.)
Plaintiff's claim was denied initially on August 2, 2006 and on reconsideration on March 15, 2007. (AR 13.) Plaintiff filed a timely request for hearing, which was held before Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") John C. Tobin on September 10, 2007, in Palmdale, California. (AR 13.) Claimant appeared and testified at the hearing with the assistance of a professional Spanish interpreter. (AR 13.) Vocational expert ("VE") Gregory S. Jones appeared and testified at the hearing. (AR 13.)
The ALJ issued an unfavorable decision on September 26, 2007. ( AR 13-23, 596.) The Appeals Council denied review on November 12, 2009. (AR 5-7.)
Plaintiff Rene Haro brought an action for review of the final decision of the ALJ.
ALJ Tobin reassumed jurisdiction over the matter once again. (AR 631-650.) ALJ Tobin conducted an oral hearing on remand on June 28, 2011 in Palmdale, California. (AR 597.) Plaintiff testified at the hearing and was represented by counsel. (AR 597.) ALJ Tobin published an unfavorable decision on remand on September 22, 2011. (AR 596-607.) Plaintiff filed exceptions to the ALJ decision on remand on October 3, 2011. (AR 549-592.) The Appeals Council declined jurisdiction over the ALJ decision on October 10, 2013. (AR 539-542.) The second decision by ALJ Tobin thereupon became the final decision of the Commissioner which is challenged here.
As reflected in the Joint Stipulation, Plaintiff raises the following disputed issues as grounds for reversal and remand:
Under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), this Court reviews the ALJ's decision to determine whether the ALJ's findings are supported by substantial evidence and free of legal error.
Substantial evidence means "`more than a mere scintilla,' but less than a preponderance."
This Court must review the record as a whole and consider adverse as well as supporting evidence.
The Social Security Act defines disability as the "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or . . . can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." 42 U.S.C. §§ 423(d)(1)(A), 1382c(a)(3)(A). The Commissioner has established a five-step sequential process to determine whether a claimant is disabled. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520, 416.920.
The first step is to determine whether the claimant is presently engaging in substantial gainful activity.
Before making the step four determination, the ALJ first must determine the claimant's residual functional capacity ("RFC"). 20 C.F.R. § 416.920(e). The RFC is "the most [one] can still do despite [his or her] limitations" and represents an assessment "based on all the relevant evidence." 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1545(a)(1), 416.945(a)(1). The RFC must consider all of the claimant's impairments, including those that are not severe. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.920(e), 416.945(a)(2); Social Security Ruling ("SSR") 96-8p.
If the claimant cannot perform his or her past relevant work or has no past relevant work, the ALJ proceeds to the fifth step and must determine whether the impairment prevents the claimant from performing any other substantial gainful activity.
In this case, the ALJ determined at step one of the sequential process that Plaintiff has not engaged in substantial gainful activity since March 11, 2004, the alleged onset date. (AR 599.)
At step two, the ALJ determined that Plaintiff has the following medically determinable severe impairments: right shoulder injury status post surgery, left shoulder degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc disease of the lumber spine, obesity, anxiety disorder, NOS (not otherwise specified), and deficient to borderline range of intellectual functioning. (AR 599.)
At step three, the ALJ determined that Plaintiff does not have an impairment or combination of impairments that meets or medically equals the severity of one of the listed impairments. (AR 599-601.)
The ALJ then found that Plaintiff has the RFC to perform light work with the following limitations:
(AR 601-605.) In determining this RFC, the ALJ made an adverse credibility determination. (AR 604-605.)
At step four, the ALJ found that Plaintiff is unable to perform his past relevant work as a numerical control machinist. (AR 605.) The ALJ, however, also found that, considering Claimant's age, education, work experience, and RFC, there are jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national economy that Claimant can perform, including occupations such as bench assembler, electronics worker, and hand packer. (AR 606.)
Consequently, the ALJ found that Claimant was not disabled, within the meaning of the Social Security Act. (AR 606.)
The ALJ decision must be affirmed. The ALJ's RFC limitation to "frequent but no repetitive reaching at the shoulder level, pushing or pulling with the right dominant upper extremity" is supported by substantial evidence. The ALJ's hypothetical question to the VE was proper. The ALJ properly discounted Plaintiff's credibility.
The ALJ's RFC is supported by substantial evidence. The ALJ's nondisability determination is supported by substantial evidence and free of legal error.
Plaintiff contends that the ALJ erred in determining that he could engage in
The ALJ's RFC is not a medical determination but an administrative finding or legal decision reserved to the Commissioner based on consideration of all the relevant evidence, including medical evidence, lay witnesses, and subjective symptoms.
In evaluating medical opinions, the case law and regulations distinguish among the opinions of three types of physicians: (1) those who treat the claimant (treating physicians); (2) those who examine but do not treat the claimant (examining physicians); and (3) those who neither examine nor treat the claimant (non-examining, or consulting, physicians).
Where a treating doctor's opinion is not contradicted by another doctor, it may be rejected only for "clear and convincing" reasons.
This Court's prior opinion held that the ALJ did not properly evaluate Dr. Mark Pierce's opinion on Claimant's mental impairments. The ALJ's RFC contained only the mental limitation of "mild to moderate impairment in attention and concentration." (AR 16.) Dr. Pierce, however, had opined that Plaintiff "retains the cognitive capacity to complete only simple and repetitive vocational skills and to adapt to minimal changes in a work environment . . . [H]e would have mild-to-moderate difficulty working with others .. . [and] can remember and comply with simple one and two part instructions." (AR 200.) The ALJ did not give any weight to these uncontradicted additional limitations but failed to cite any conflicting medical evidence. Hence, this Court determined that the ALJ did not properly evaluate Dr. Pierce's opinion or provide clear and convincing reasons for rejecting his opinion.
On remand, the ALJ as instructed reevaluated Dr. Pierce's opinion and found that Claimant has "a mild to moderate impairment in attention and concentration that would limit the Claimant to simple and repetitive tasks with minimal changes in the work environment." (AR 603.) These limitations are contained in the ALJ's RFC. (AR 601.) Plaintiff does not contest the adequacy of the ALJ's reassessment of Dr. Pierce's opinion or the sufficiency of the mental impairment limitations now contained in the ALJ's RFC.
The Court's prior decision left all other issues open and Plaintiff now challenges the ALJ's upper extremity limitations in his RFC. The ALJ found that Plaintiff suffers from the medically determinable severe impairments of right shoulder injury status post surgery; left shoulder and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. (AR 599.) The ALJ then assessed RFC limitations of "no overhead reaching with the bilateral upper extremities, and frequent but no repetitive reaching at the shoulder level, pushing or pulling with the right dominant upper extremity." (AR 601.) These limitations were based in part on the opinion of Dr. Ronald Perelman, Plaintiff's workers' compensation treating physician. Dr. Perelman assessed "work restriction of no heavy lifting and repetitive pushing, pulling and above shoulder activities with the right shoulder, and no above shoulder activities with the left shoulder." (AR 18.) In the prior decision, the ALJ imposed RFC limitations of "no bilateral overhead reaching, no repetitive forceful pushing/pulling with the right dominant hand." (AR 16.) The ALJ gave weight to Dr. Perelman's opinion. (AR 19, 20.) After the hearing on remand, the ALJ's RFC was revised to include a limitation to "
Plaintiff contends that the ALJ erred by misconstruing Dr. Perelman's workers' compensation opinion to permit "frequent" reaching at the shoulder level with the right arm. He contends that the limitation should have been "occasional" rather than frequent. The VE testified that an occasional reaching limitation would preclude the jobs identified above. (AR 686.) Terms of art used in workers' compensation proceedings are not equivalent to Social Security disability terminology.
Plaintiff, however, does not explain how or why use of California workers' compensation terminology for "repetitive" necessarily would include all "frequent" reaching. The workers' compensation definition presented by Plaintiff does not mention frequent. In Social Security terminology, "occasional" means up to one-third of the time, and "frequent" means one-third to two-thirds of the time. SSR 83-10, 1983 WL 31251*5. Thus, Plaintiff's definition of repetitive would not include
Plaintiff's argument also loses force by the assertion that the ALJ assumed that Dr. Perelman used the term "repetitive" to mean a range of "constant" activity and that the ALJ used the term "repetitive" as inclusive of both frequent and constant. The Court can find nothing in either of the ALJ's opinions to suggest that the ALJ meant "repetitive" to include both frequent and constant. Indeed, in Social Security terminology, "constant" is defined to mean two-thirds or more of time. In view of the fact that "frequent" and "constant" have different interpretations, Plaintiff's argument is plainly a reach. At best, "repetitive," using Plaintiff's definition, only partially covers the level of activity defined as "frequent."
The ALJ, moreover, did not rely solely on Dr. Perelman's opinion for the limitation to "frequent" reaching, pushing or pulling with the right shoulder. The ALJ also relied on Dr. Rajeswari Kumar who conducted an orthopedic consultative examination of Plaintiff on May 22, 2006 and found only mild degenerative disc disease of the spine (AR 604-605) and normal and pain free range of motion of the lumbar spine. (AR 605.) Dr. Kumar also found normal range of motion in the shoulders except for mildly limited right shoulder flexion and abduction. (AR 18.) Impingement sign was positive in the shoulders but Claimant had normal motor strength and sensation in the bilateral upper extremities. (AR 18.) Dr. Kumar assessed a medium work RFC with only occasional overhead activities with the bilateral extremities. (AR 18.) He did not assess any reaching limitations. The ALJ also relied on Dr. Mitchell Silverman on July 18, 2005 who found normal range of motion of the bilateral shoulders except for mildly limited right shoulder internal and external rotation, positive right shoulder infringement sign and normal motor strength of the bilateral shoulders and upper extremities. (AR 17.)
There also was objective evidence in the record supporting the ALJ's limitation to "frequent" reaching, pushing or pulling with the right shoulder. An MRI of Plaintiff's lumbar spine returned mild findings. (AR 18.)
Plaintiff does not dispute this additional evidence and barely discusses it. The ALJ's RFC limitation to "frequent" reaching, pushing or pulling for the right shoulder and right upper extremity is supported by substantial evidence.
Plaintiff challenges the ALJ's hypothetical question to the VE who identified several jobs that someone with Plaintiff's RFC could perform. (AR 682-85.) The ALJ's question to the VE included limitations to "bilaterally, no overhead reaching; with the right dominant hand, frequent but no repetitive reaching, pushing/pulling." (AR 683.) Each of the jobs identified by the VE require frequent reaching, handling and fingering. (AR 685-686.) None of the occupations require repetitive or constant activity according to the DOT. Plaintiff argues that the VE may have departed from the DOT but as explained the VE eroded the occupational bases of each of the jobs identified which accounts for the extent to which "repetitive" would include some frequent activity. Plaintiff also repeats his argument that "repetitive" would include "frequent" activity,
The ALJ's hypothetical argument to the VE was proper and the VE's response, by eroding the occupational base for the three jobs identified, accounted for the fact that Plaintiff's definition of "repetitive" would include some but not all "frequent" activity. There was no error.
Plaintiff contends that the ALJ improperly discounted Plaintiff's subjective symptom testimony. The Court disagrees.
The test for deciding whether to accept a claimant's subjective symptom testimony turns on whether the claimant produces medical evidence of an impairment that reasonably could be expected to produce the pain or other symptoms alleged.
In determining Plaintiff's RFC, the ALJ concluded that Claimant's medically determinable impairments reasonably could be expected to cause some of his alleged symptoms. (AR 604.) The ALJ, however, also found that Plaintiff's statements regarding the intensity, persistence and limiting effects of these symptoms were "not credible" to the extent inconsistent with the ALJ's RFC. (AR 604.) Because the ALJ did not make a finding of malingering, he was required to provide clear and convincing reasons supported by substantial evidence to discount Plaintiff's credibility.
First, the ALJ in his prior decision found that Plaintiff's allegations were inconsistent with the objective medical record and his medical treatment. (AR 21.) An ALJ is entitled to consider whether there is a lack of medical evidence to corroborate a claimant's alleged pain symptoms so long as it is not the only reason for discounting a claimant's credibility.
Second, the ALJ noted that Claimant admitted he did not seek mental health treatment until just before the June 28, 2011 hearing. (AR 604.) He also found that Claimant failed to allege any obstacles preventing him from seeking mental health treatment. (AR 604-05.) The ALJ may consider lack of treatment,
Third, the ALJ found that Claimant worked as an in-home care provider for his mother for three or four years. (AR 605, 669-70, 676.) He takes his mother to the grocery store, helps her pick up the groceries and takes her to the doctor. (AR 605.) This work is inconsistent with Plaintiff's statements that he was unable to concentrate, drive more than ten minutes, stand more than 45 minutes and sit more than an hour. (AR 512-14, 670, 673-674.) The ALJ concluded that Plaintiff's work activity shows that he is not as physically or mentally limited as he claims. (AR 605.) An ALJ may consider inconsistency between a claimant's testimony and his conduct in evaluating credibility.
Fourth, the ALJ found that Claimant told his doctor that he is able to dress and bathe himself, perform household chores, go shopping, do cooking, drive and pay his own bills and handle his own money. (AR 605.) The ALJ concluded that these daily activities show that he is not as physically or mentally limited as he claims. (AR 605.) The ALJ may consider daily activities inconsistent with disabling symptoms in considering credibility.
Plaintiff disputes the ALJ's interpretation of the evidence regarding Plaintiff's credibility but it is the ALJ who is responsible for resolving ambiguities in the record.
The ALJ provided clear and convincing reasons supported by substantial evidence for discounting Plaintiff's credibility as to any limitations beyond those assessed in the ALJ's RFC.
The ALJ's RFC is supported by substantial evidence. The ALJ's nondisability determination is supported by substantial evidence and free of legal error.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Judgment be entered affirming the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and dismissing this case with prejudice.