Filed: Nov. 10, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-4665 _ CLAUDIA WINWARD, Appellant v. COMMISSIONER SOCIAL SECURITY _ On Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Delaware (D. DE. No. 1-09-cv-00034) District Judge: Honorable Sue L. Robinson _ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) September 15, 2015 Before: FISHER, CHAGARES and JORDAN, Circuit Judges (Filed: November 10, 2015) _ OPINION* _ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full C
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-4665 _ CLAUDIA WINWARD, Appellant v. COMMISSIONER SOCIAL SECURITY _ On Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Delaware (D. DE. No. 1-09-cv-00034) District Judge: Honorable Sue L. Robinson _ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) September 15, 2015 Before: FISHER, CHAGARES and JORDAN, Circuit Judges (Filed: November 10, 2015) _ OPINION* _ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Co..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
____________
No. 14-4665
____________
CLAUDIA WINWARD,
Appellant
v.
COMMISSIONER SOCIAL SECURITY
____________
On Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Delaware
(D. DE. No. 1-09-cv-00034)
District Judge: Honorable Sue L. Robinson
____________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
September 15, 2015
Before: FISHER, CHAGARES and JORDAN, Circuit Judges
(Filed: November 10, 2015)
____________
OPINION*
____________
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7
does not constitute binding precedent.
FISHER, Circuit Judge
Claudia Winward appeals the District Court’s grant of summary judgment
in favor of the Commissioner of Social Security affirming the Commissioner’s denial of
Winward’s disability benefits. We will affirm.
I.
We write principally for the parties, who are familiar with the factual context and
legal history of the case. Therefore, we will set forth only those facts that are necessary to
our analysis.
In April 2006, Winward applied for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits
for the period of July 1, 2000, through March 31, 2003 (hereinafter “relevant time
period”). Winward claimed that she suffered from depression and anxiety that limited her
ability to work. Winward’s application was denied, so she requested a hearing before an
administrative law judge (“ALJ”).
In order to determine whether Winward was disabled, the ALJ employed the
Social Security Administration’s five-part test.1 Pertinent to this appeal, the ALJ
1
20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(a)(4)(i)-(v). The five-step process requires the ALJ to
review:
(1) the claimant’s current work activity; (2) the medical severity and
duration of the claimant’s impairments; (3) whether the claimant’s impairments
meet or equal the requirements of an impairment listed in the regulations; (4)
whether the claimant has the residual functional capacity to return to past relevant
work; and (5) if the claimant cannot return to past relevant work, whether he or
she can make an adjustment to other work in the national economy.
2
considered: treatment notes from the relevant time period from Dr. Zorach, Winward’s
treating physician; a check-the-box questionnaire completed by Dr. Zorach in 2007—four
years after the relevant time period ended; Winward’s own statements regarding her
condition; and the opinions of two physicians, Dr. Simon and Dr. Abashidze, based on
examinations conducted in 2009. The ALJ also employed a hypothetical question
directed to a vocational expert in order to determine whether Winward had the residual
functional capacity to perform jobs that exist in the national economy.
Following the hearing, the ALJ found that Winward (1) is not currently engaged in
substantial gainful activity; (2) has severe impairments due to depression; (3) does not
have a medical impairment that meets or is the medical equivalent of the listed
impairments; (4) does not have the residual functional capacity to perform past relevant
work; and (5) has the residual functional capacity to perform sedentary to light work in
jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national economy. Thus, because she failed
the final step, the ALJ concluded that Winward was not disabled and denied her
application. Winward requested review of the ALJ’s decision, which the Appeals Council
denied, making it the Commissioner’s final decision.
Smith v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 631 F.3d 632, 634 (3d Cir. 2010) (internal quotation
marks omitted). The claimaint bears the burden of proof at steps one through four; at step
five, the burden shifts to the Commissioner.
Id.
3
Winward sought review in the District Court, which granted the Commissioner’s
motion for summary judgment, holding that the ALJ’s findings were supported by
substantial evidence. Winward timely appealed.
II.
The District Court had jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) and 1383(c)(3). We
have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise plenary review over the
Commissioner’s legal conclusions and review the Commissioner’s factual findings for
substantial evidence, which is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept
as adequate to support a conclusion.”2 In reviewing the evidence, we may not weigh the
evidence or substitute our own view for that of the Commissioner.3
III.
Winward presents two arguments on appeal: (1) the ALJ did not afford the proper
weight to her treating physician’s opinion; and (2) the ALJ’s hypothetical question to the
vocational expert did not reflect all of Winward’s impairments.
1.
Winward first contends that the ALJ’s decision is not supported by substantial
evidence because the ALJ improperly weighed the opinions of Winward’s physicians.
Specifically, she argues that the ALJ should have afforded controlling weight to her
2
Chandler v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 667 F.3d 356, 359 (3d Cir. 2011) (quoting
Reefer v. Barnhart,
326 F.3d 376, 379 (3d Cir. 2003)).
3
Rutherford v. Barnhart, 399 F.3d 546, 552 (3d Cir. 2005).
4
treating physician, Dr. Zorach, and no weight to Dr. Simon, who observed Winward in
2009.
Where a treating physician’s opinion is “well-supported by medically acceptable
clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques and is not inconsistent with the other
substantial evidence in [the record],” it will be given “controlling weight.”4 When
presented with conflicting evidence, the ALJ “may choose whom to credit but ‘cannot
reject evidence for no reason or for the wrong reason.’”5 An ALJ “may afford a treating
physician’s opinion more or less weight depending upon the extent to which supporting
explanations are provided.”6
The ALJ did not give controlling weight to Dr. Zorach’s opinion, as expressed in
the questionnaire, because it was “not well supported by medical signs and laboratory
findings and [was] inconsistent with his detailed treatment records.”7 As the ALJ
explained, Dr. Zorach’s questionnaire conflicts, not only with the opinions of other
experts, but also with his own opinion as expressed in his treatment notes from the
relevant time period. These notes documented that Winward “performed some household
chores and was working part-time as a floral designer and planning to start her own
4
20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(c)(2); Fargnoli v. Massanari, 247 F.3d 34, 43 (3d Cir.
2001).
5
Plummer v. Apfel, 186 F.3d 422, 429 (3d Cir. 1999) (quoting Mason v. Shalala,
994 F.2d 1058, 1066 (3d Cir. 1993)).
6
Id.
7
App. at 12.
5
business.”8 Dr. Zorach’s notes also reported that she experienced mild to moderate
restrictions with respect to activities of daily living and her concentration, persistence,
and pace and that Winward’s condition was improving, as her depression and anxiety
lessened with treatment.
In addition to Dr. Zorach’s notes from the relevant time period, Dr. Zorach’s
questionnaire was also inconsistent with the evidence in the record. The ALJ considered
the opinion of Dr. Simon, who personally examined Winward, and Winward’s own
statements regarding her abilities. Dr. Simon opined that Winward was “capable of
managing benefits, making decisions, adapting to different circumstances … as well as
exercising judgment, insight, and common sense.”9 These conclusions were based, in
part, on Winward’s own statements to Dr. Simon that she was able to perform chores,
cook, and maintain relationships with others. Because Dr. Zorach’s questionnaire
conflicts with Winward’s own statements, Dr. Simon’s conclusions, and Dr. Zorach’s
treatment notes from the relevant time period, the ALJ was not required to give it
controlling weight. The ALJ reasonably relied on the medical evidence in the record as a
whole to determine that Winward was not disabled. Therefore, we conclude that the ALJ
did not err in concluding that Dr. Zorach’s questionnaire is not entitled to controlling
weight.
2.
8
Ohio App. at 9.
9
App. at 12.
6
Winward next argues that the ALJ’s hypothetical question to the vocational expert
did not sufficiently include all of Winward’s limitations. The vocational expert’s answer
to the hypothetical question provided a partial basis for the ALJ’s determination that
Winward had the residual functional capacity to perform a range of sedentary to light
unskilled work for which there were a significant number of jobs in the national
economy.
“[A] vocational expert or specialist may offer expert opinion testimony in
response to a hypothetical question about whether a person with the physical and mental
limitations imposed by the claimant’s medical impairment(s) can meet the demands of
the claimant’s previous work.”10 The ALJ must accurately convey to the vocational
expert all of the claimant’s established limitations, but “[w]e do not require an ALJ to
submit to the vocational expert every impairment alleged by a claimant.”11 Rather, the
ALJ must convey only those impairments that are “medically established.” 12 A
hypothetical question that encompasses every credible limitation established by the
record may be relied upon as substantial evidence supporting the ALJ’s conclusion that
an individual is not disabled.13
Although Winward claims that the hypothetical question omitted limitations in her
social functioning and her ability to maintain a routine work schedule, those limitations
10
20 C.F.R. § 404.1560(b)(2).
11
Rutherford, 399 F.3d at 554 (emphasis in original).
12
Smith, 631 F.3d at 634 (quoting
Rutherford, 399 F.3d at 554).
13
Plummer, 186 F.3d at 431.
7
were not supported by the record. They were found only in Dr. Zorach’s questionnaire
opinion, and as explained above, the ALJ did not afford controlling weight to his opinion
as stated in the questionnaire because it conflicted with his own treatment notes and the
medical record as a whole. Because the limitations that Winward alleges should have
been included in the hypothetical question were not “medically established,” the ALJ was
not required to include them in the hypothetical question. And because the hypothetical
question set forth every credible limitation established by the record, it can be relied upon
as substantial evidence supporting the ALJ’s conclusion that Winward is not disabled.
We therefore conclude that substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s findings and
that the ALJ’s hypothetical to the vocational expert conveyed all of Winward’s medically
established limitations.
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the order of the District Court.
8
