Brown v. Colvin

82 F.Supp.3d 1274

Roderick Ray Brown, Plaintiff

v.Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 13–cv–02890–REB

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

Signed March 11, 2015

Roderick Ray Brown, Centennial, CO, pro se.

J. Benedict Garcia, U.S. Attorney's Office, David I. Blower, Social Security Administration, Denver, CO, for Defendant.

ORDER AFFIRMING COMMISSIONER

Blackburn, District Judge

The matter before me is plaintiff's Complaint [# 1],¹ filed October 23, 2013, seeking review of the Commissioner's decision denying plaintiff's claim for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 401, et seq. I have jurisdiction to review the Commissioner's final decision under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). The matter has been fully briefed, obviating the need for oral argument. I affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff alleges that he is disabled as a result of urinary incontinence, degenerative disc and joint disease, and atrial fibrillation. After his application for disability insurance benefits was denied, plaintiff requested a hearing before an administrative law judge. This hearing was held on November 15, 2012. At the time of this hearing, plaintiff was 67 years old. He has a high school education and past relevant work experience as a hotel manager. He did not engage in substantial gainful activity at any time between June 29, 2006, his alleged date of onset, and March 31, 2011, his date last insured

The ALJ found that plaintiff was not disabled and therefore not entitled to disability insurance benefits. Although the evidence established that plaintiff suffered from severe impairments, the judge concluded that the severity of those impairments did not meet or equal any impairment listed in the social security regulations. Other impairments were found to be not severe. The ALJ found that plaintiff had the residual functional capacity to perform a range of light work with certain postural and environmental limitations. Although this determination precluded plaintiff's past relevant work, the ALJ concluded that there were other jobs existing in significant numbers in the national and local economies that he could perform. The ALJ therefore found plaintiff not disabled at step five of the sequential evaluation. Plaintiff appealed this decision to the Appeals Council. The Council affirmed. Plaintiff then filed this action in federal court.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A person is disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act only if his physical and/or mental impairments preclude him from performing both his previous work and any other “substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy.” 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(2). “When a claimant has one or more severe impairments the Social Security [Act] requires the [Commissioner] to consider the combined effects of the impairments in making a disability determination.” Campbell v. Bowen, 822 F.2d 1518, 1521 (10th Cir.1987) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(2)(C) ). However, the mere existence of a severe impairment or combination of impairments does not require a finding that an individual is disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. To be disabling, the claimant's condition must be so functionally limiting as to preclude any substantial gainful activity for at least twelve consecutive months. See Kelley v. Chater, 62 F.3d 335, 338 (10th Cir.1995).

The Commissioner has established a five-step sequential evaluation process for determining whether a claimant is disabled:

1. The ALJ must first ascertain whether the claimant is engaged in substantial gainful activity. A claimant who is working is not disabled regardless of the medical findings.

2. The ALJ must then determine whether the claimed impairment is “severe.” A “severe impairment” must significantly limit the claimant's physical or mental ability to do basic work activities.

3. The ALJ must then determine if the impairment meets or equals in severity certain impairments described in Appendix 1 of the regulations.

4. If the claimant's impairment does not meet or equal a listed impairment, the ALJ must determine whether the claimant can perform his past work despite any limitations.

5. If the claimant does not have the residual functional capacity to perform her past work, the ALJ must decide whether the claimant can perform any other gainful and substantial work in the economy. This determination is made on the basis of the claimant's age, education, work experience, and residual functional capacity.

20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(b)-(f). See also Williams v. Bowen , 844 F.2d 748, 750–52 (10th Cir.1988). The claimant has the initial burden of establishing a disability in the first four steps of this analysis. Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. 137, 146 n. 5, 107 S.Ct. 2287, 2294 n. 5, 96 L.Ed.2d 119 (1987). The burden then shifts to the Commissioner to show that the claimant is capable of performing work in the national economy. Id. A finding that the claimant is disabled or not disabled at any point in the five-step review is conclusive and terminates the analysis. Casias v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 933 F.2d 799, 801 (10th Cir.1991).

Review of the Commissioner's disability decision is limited to determining whether the ALJ applied the correct legal standard and whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence. Hamilton v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 961 F.2d 1495, 1497–98 (10th Cir.1992) ; Brown v. Sullivan, 912 F.2d 1194, 1196 (10th Cir.1990). Substantial evidence is evidence a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Brown, 912 F.2d at 1196. It requires more than a scintilla but less than a preponderance of the evidence. Hedstrom v. Sullivan, 783 F.Supp. 553, 556 (D.Colo.1992). “Evidence is not substantial if it is overwhelmed by other evidence in the record or constitutes mere conclusion.” Musgrave v. Sullivan, 966 F.2d 1371, 1374 (10th Cir.1992). Further, “if the ALJ failed to apply the correct legal test, there is a ground for reversal apart from a lack of substantial evidence.” Thompson v. Sullivan, 987 F.2d 1482, 1487 (10th Cir.1993). Although a reviewing court should meticulously examine the record, it may not reweigh the evidence or substitute its discretion for that of the Commissioner. Id.

III. LEGAL ANALYSIS

Plaintiff appears in this appeal, as he did below, pro se. Accordingly, I have construed his pleadings more liberally and held them to a less stringent standard than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 2200, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) ; Andrews v. Heaton, 483 F.3d 1070, 1076 (10th Cir.2007). I have made every effort to distill each of plaintiff's statements in both his opening and reply briefs into cognizable legal arguments. Nevertheless, I find no reversible error in the ALJ's decision, and thus affirm.

Initially, it appears that plaintiff may be confused by the ALJ's determination of his date of onset, which coincided with the last day plaintiff engaged in substantial gainful activity (in 2006) rather than the date of the cancer surgery (in 2002) which precipitated plaintiff's problems with urinary incontinence. At step 1 of the sequential evaluation, the ALJ was required to determine whether plaintiff was engaged in “substantial gainful activity.”² A claimant who is performing substantial gainful activity is not disabled regardless of medical condition, age, education, or work experience. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(b). Thus even if plaintiff's impairments commenced earlier, the fact that he nevertheless continued to work precludes a finding of disability for any period of time prior to the date he actually stopped working. See Kelley, 62 F.3d at 338 (condition is not disabling unless it is so functionally limiting as to preclude any substantial gainful activity for at least twelve consecutive months).

Plaintiff's next group of arguments can best be characterized as a challenge to the ALJ's determination of plaintiff's residual functional capacity. These arguments are directed to the ALJ's notation that the record contained no opinion from a medical source suggesting any functional limitations and her assessment of plaintiff's credibility. I perceive no such error—or any other—in the ALJ's residual functional capacity assessment.

The ALJ did note that the record lacked an opinion from any medical source addressing plaintiff's work-related functionality (see Tr. 15), but no such opinion was absolutely required because the determination of residual functional capacity is an administrative, not a medical, one. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1546 ; Rutledge v. Apfel, 230 F.3d 1172, 1175 (10th Cir.2000) ; Moses v. Astrue, 2012 WL 1326672, at *4 (D.Colo. April 17, 2012).³ Nevertheless, the ALJ thoroughly recounted the medical and other evidence of record in crafting her residual functional capacity assessment (Tr. 14–15), a discussion which my own review of the evidence finds well-supported by the record.

For example, just weeks prior to his alleged date of onset, plaintiff reported to his urologist that “he occasionally has some slight urge incontinence” and that “[o]ther than that he is urinating well.” (Tr. 336.) Thereafter, there is no other record evidence suggesting that plaintiff complained of urinary incontinence to his doctors again until May 2010 (Tr. 254.)⁴

At a follow-up appointment two weeks later, plaintiff reported that his “[s]ymptoms [were] controlled since last visit and on current medication.” (Tr. 258.) Thereafter, plaintiff generally reported “feeling fine” despite his ongoing impairments, the symptoms of which were stated repeatedly to be controlled on medication. (See Tr. 262, 268, 271, 274, 277, 280, 287.)⁵ The rare occasions on which plaintiff reported not “feeling fine” were not related to his allegedly disabling impairments. (See, e.g., Tr. 283.) The record also supports the ALJ's assessment of the functional limitations...