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Keywords

plaintiffhearingtestimony

plaintiffappealhearingtestimonyplea

Related Cases

Becher v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration, Not Reported in Fed. Supp., 2023 WL 2582693

Facts

On May 2, 2020, Plaintiff filed an application for disability benefits, claiming disability beginning on October 31, 2016. The Social Security Administration denied his application at both the initial and reconsideration levels, leading to a hearing before an ALJ on August 18, 2021. The ALJ found that Becher had several severe impairments but concluded that these did not meet the criteria for disability under the Act, ultimately determining that he retained the capacity to perform light work.

On May 2, 2020, Plaintiff filed an application for disability and disability insurance benefits, alleging disability beginning on October 31, 2016. (AR at 14.) The Social Security Administration (“SSA”) denied Plaintiff's application at the initial and reconsideration levels of administrative review and Plaintiff requested a hearing before an ALJ. ( Id. ) On August 18, 2021, following a telephonic hearing, the ALJ issued an unfavorable decision. ( Id. at 11-26.) The Appeals Council later denied review. ( Id. at 1-4.)

Issue

Whether the ALJ erred in discrediting Plaintiff's symptom testimony and the opinions of Dr. Lovett while crediting the opinions of Dr. Fair.

Plaintiff presents two issues on appeal: (1) whether the ALJ erred when discrediting his symptom testimony (Doc. 9 at 7-13); and (2) whether the ALJ erred when discrediting the opinions of Dr. Lovett and crediting the opinions of Dr. Fair ( id. at 13-20).

Rule

An ALJ must provide specific, clear, and convincing reasons for discrediting a claimant's symptom testimony, and the evaluation of medical opinions must consider supportability and consistency with the evidence.

An ALJ must evaluate whether the claimant has presented objective medical evidence of an impairment that “could reasonably be expected to produce the pain or symptoms alleged.” Lingenfelter v. Astrue, 504 F.3d 1028, 1035-36 (9th Cir. 2007) (citations omitted). If so, “an ALJ may not reject a claimant's subjective complaints based solely on a lack of medical evidence to fully corroborate the alleged severity of pain.” Burch v. Barnhart, 400 F.3d 676, 682 (9th Cir. 2005). Instead, the ALJ may “reject the claimant's testimony about the severity of [the] symptoms” only by “providing specific, clear, and convincing reasons for doing so.” Brown-Hunter v. Colvin, 806 F.3d 487, 488-89 (9th Cir. 2015).

Analysis

The ALJ discredited Plaintiff's symptom testimony based on inconsistencies between his reported symptoms and his activities of daily living, as well as the objective medical evidence. The ALJ noted that Plaintiff's claims of disabling symptoms were contradicted by his ability to engage in various activities, such as cooking, socializing, and exercising, which suggested capacities transferable to a work setting. The ALJ also evaluated the opinions of medical experts, finding that Dr. Fair's opinion was more consistent with the overall evidence than Dr. Lovett's.

The ALJ provided the following evaluation of Plaintiff's symptom testimony: As noted above, regarding the claimant's mental impairments, he reported experiencing traumatic events during his military service. His related symptoms include distressing dreams several nights per week, traumatic memories, avoiding certain movies and crowds, difficulty with focus, hypervigilance behaviors, agitation, and anger. The claimant sought and received inconsistent treatment with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, but reported that medication and treatment were not helpful. During mental status examinations, he was at times observed as fatigued, frustrated and tearful. However, he was largely observed as alert and oriented, pleasant and easily engaged, cooperative and reasonable, with normal mood and affect, appropriate grooming, intact memory and language, as well as normal and coherent thought processes. In a Mini Mental Status Exam, he scored 27 out of 30, suggesting adequate memory and concentration. Additionally, despite the claimant's allegations of avoidance and anger, records show he independently prepares meals, goes to the gym, socializes with friends on the weekends, attends doctor appointments, watches television, shops, helps to care for pets and his children, as well as drives. The evidence as a whole supports the mental limitations of the residual functional capacity….

Conclusion

The court upheld the ALJ's decision, affirming that the denial of benefits was supported by substantial evidence and that the ALJ did not err in evaluating the evidence.

Thus, the ALJ concluded that Plaintiff is not disabled. ( Id. at 26.)

Who won?

The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration prevailed because the court found that the ALJ's decision was supported by substantial evidence and did not contain legal error.

The Commissioner defends the sufficiency of the ALJ's reasoning, arguing that the ALJ properly discredited Plaintiff's symptom testimony based on (1) the ALJ's review of the objective medical evidence; (2) Plaintiff's ADLs; and (3) the ALJ's review of prior administrative medical findings. (Doc. 11 at 5-9.)

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