Ison v. SSA
Filing
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MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER, 1) granting 16 MOTION for Summary Judgment by SSA 2) denying 12 MOTION for Summary Judgment by Gregory Lee Ison 3) a judgment will be entered contemporaneously with this opinion. Signed by Judge David L. Bunning on 8/7/14.(SMT)cc: COR
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
NORTHERN DIVISION
AT ASHLAND
CIVIL ACTION NO. 13-97-DLB
GREGORY LEE ISON
vs.
PLAINTIFF
MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER
MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, Commissioner
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
DEFENDANT
*** *** ***
I.
INTRODUCTION
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s cross-motions for
summary judgment. (Docs. # 12 & 16). For the reasons set forth below, the Court will
grant Defendant’s motion, deny Plaintiff’s motion, and affirm the Social Security
Administration’s decision.
II.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY
Gregory Lee Ison is a resident of Sandy Hook, Kentucky. (Doc. # 8-1, at 45). Born
in 1962, Mr. Ison largely dropped out of the labor force in 2007,when he began building
garages part time. (Id. at 44). That activity earned only $400 per month, and Mr. Ison
eventually gave it up because he “couldn’t do it.” (Id. at 46). Before then, he worked in
various jobs, including welding, pipe fitting, and equipment installation. (Id. at 49). Mr. Ison
stopped working, he claims, primarily because of back pain and high blood pressure,
though he also suffers from other problems. (Id. at 50).
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On May 8, 2009, Mr. Ison applied for disability, disability insurance, and
supplemental security income benefits. (Id. at 24). That application was denied initially and
after reconsideration .
(Id.)
Thereafter, Plaintiff requested a hearing before an
administrative law judge (ALJ). (Id.) That hearing was held on March 1, 2012, before ALJ
Brian LeCours, in Huntington, WV. (Id.) At the hearing, ALJ LeCours interviewed the
Plaintiff regarding his ailments, his work history, and his disability application. (Id. at 4066). The ALJ also interviewed agency vocational expert (VE) Dwight McMillion. (Id. at 6880).
ALJ LeCours issued his written opinion on May 14, 2012, denying Mr. Ison’s
disability claims. While the ALJ found that Mr. Ison did suffer from some severe ailments,
none of those ailments proved debilitating. (Id. at 22-26). Mr. Ison maintained the ability
to do light work, so long as he didn’t have to carry heavy objects. (Id.) ALJ LeCours
concluded, based on the testimony of the VE, that enough jobs existed in the national
economy that could accommodate Mr. Ison’s ailments. (Id.)
Unsatisfied with the ALJ’s written opinion, Mr. Ison asked the agency’s Appeals
Council to overrule ALJ LeCours’s written opinion, which it declined to do in a June 19,
2013 letter. (Id. at 6). Mr. Ison then appealed the agency’s decision to this Court. (Doc.
# 1).
III.
ANALYSIS
A.
Standard of Review
The Court's review is limited to determining whether the Commissioner's decision
followed proper legal standards and whether the Commissioner's findings are supported
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by substantial evidence . Rogers v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 486 F.3d 234, 241 (6th Cir.
2007). Under this deferential standard, courts will not substitute their judgment for that of
the ALJ. Id. The Court does not resolve evidentiary conflicts or decide questions of
credibility. Cutlip v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 25 F.3d 284, 286 (6th Cir. 1994).
Even if the Court might have decided an issue otherwise, it will defer to the agency so long
as the agency’s decision was supported by substantial evidence. Interpretations of statutes
and agency regulations, on the other hand, are questions of law, which the Court will review
de novo. Smith v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 482 F.3d 873, 876 (6th Cir. 2007).
B.
The Five-Step Sequential Analysis and the Residual Functional
Capacity
In deciding whether to award disability benefits, the ALJ must proceed through a
five-step analysis. Heston v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 245 F.3d 528, 534 (6th Cir. 2001).
First, the ALJ determines whether the applicant is gainfully employed. 20 C.F.R. §
404.1520(b). If so, the disability application fails; if not, the ALJ proceeds to step two and
determines whether the claimant suffers from any severe physical or mental impairments.
Id. at § 1520(c). Assuming the answer is yes, the ALJ then considers, at the third step,
whether the applicant's impairments are among those listed in Social Security regulations
(or equivalent to those listed), such that the applicant is presumed disabled. Id. at §
1520(d).
If a claimant's impairments fail to qualify as a listed impairment under agency
regulations, the ALJ must then prepare a residual functional capacity (RFC).
20 C.F.R.
§ 404.1520(e). This RFC is used at both steps four and five of the process. Id. at §
1520(a)(4). At step four, the ALJ decides, in light of the RFC, whether the claimant can
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perform any past relevant work. Id. at § 1520(a)(4)(iv). If so, then the claimant is not
eligible for benefits. Id. If not, the ALJ then considers alternative work the claimant could
do, and evaluates whether enough of that work exists in the national economy to preclude
an award of disability benefits. Id. at § 1520(a)(4)(v). This determination at the fifth and
final step is based in part on the RFC, which guides the ALJ regarding the type of work the
claimant might be able to perform. Id.
In the present matter, Plaintiff takes issue with the ALJ’s analysis at nearly every
step of the process. The ALJ’s alleged errors are as follows: At step two, the ALJ
erroneously concluded that neither Plaintiff’s cervical disk disease nor his hypertension
qualified as severe impairments. At step three, the ALJ failed to adequately consider
whether the sum of Plaintiff’s ailments were equivalent to a listed impairment. The ALJ’s
RFC determination was faulty for two reasons: first, it failed to account for Plaintiff’s obesity;
second, it was based on a flawed credibility finding. Finally, at step five, the ALJ relied on
vocational expert testimony given in response to an inaccurate hypothetical. The Court will
reject each of these arguments, for reasons discussed in detail below.
C.
The ALJ’s Decision Is Supported by Substantial Evidence
1.
The ALJ correctly determined that some of Plaintiff’s
impairments were not severe.
At Step Two, ALJ LeCours determined that Plaintiff suffered from the following nonsevere impairments: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and vision loss.
Plaintiff
protests that his hypertension and his “documented cervical disk disease” should have
been listed as severe impairments.
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The ALJ’s decision here was supported by substantial evidence. As the Sixth Circuit
has held, it is “unnecessary” to address whether specific ailments count as “severe” when
an ALJ determines that at least one other ailment so qualifies. Maziarz v. Sec'y of Health
& Human Servs., 837 F.2d 240, 244 (6th Cir. 1987). The reason is simple: designating
impairments as “severe” or “not-severe” screens disability claims. If a claimant has no
severe impairments, the ALJ can stop the analysis right there. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(c).
If however, a claimant has at least one severe impairment, then the ALJ must consider all
of Plaintiff’s ailments–severe or not–through the rest of the process. So whether Plaintiff’s
hypertension is “severe” or not does not matter where, as here, the ALJ found that other
ailments were severe.
The ALJ did not reject Plaintiff’s claim for lack of severe impairments, and
considered Plaintiff’s hypertension and spinal ailments throughout the rest of his written
opinion. (See, e.g., Doc. # 8-1, at 22) (“Cervical x-ray showed...a degenerative disc
disease at C5-C6"). As the Sixth Circuit has held, so long as an ALJ considers Plaintiff’s
ailments at later steps of the process, the ALJ’s failure to designate those ailments as
severe do “not constitute reversible error.” Maziarz, 837 F.2d at 244. Because the ALJ did
consider those ailments in evaluating Plaintiff’s application, the Court declines to remand
the case on these grounds.
2.
The agency correctly decided that Plaintiff’s impairments do not
equal a listed impairment.
Plaintiff argues that the ALJ failed to engage in “equivalence” analysis, as is required
by social security regulations. Under those regulations, a social security claimant can
receive benefits if he shows that his “combination of impairments” equals a listed
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impairment. Sullivan v. Zebley, 493 U.S. 521, 531 (1990) (citing 20 CFR § 416.926(a)).
To do so, however, Plaintiff “must present medical findings equal in severity to all the
criteria for the...most similar listed impairment.” Id.
Plaintiff has not presented such medical findings here. Nor did he do so before the
agency. Plaintiff cites the ALJ’s failure to discuss certain parts of the record–including leg
weakness, episodes of falling, or reported antalgic gait. (Doc. # 20-1, at 9). Yet he does
not inform the Court how these problems, when combined, somehow equal a listed
impairment, or even which listed impairment this combination somehow equals.
The closest Plaintiff comes is in regard to Listing 1.04. “It is reversible error,”
Plaintiff argues, “for the ALJ not to consider the combined effect of Gregory’s cervical
degenerative disk disease and congestive heart failure with hypertension in determining
whether Gregory suffers from a combined condition of such severity that Listing 1.04 is
equaled despite any lack of sensory deficit.” (Doc. # 20-1, at 9). Plaintiff must do better
than this. Why is it “reversible error”? Plaintiff discusses no legal rule that the ALJ violated.
Nor does he inform the Court why that list of impairments somehow triggers Listing 1.04.
That provision of agency regulations provides that named disorders of the spine, combined
with one of three other problems, triggers automatic disability entitlement. There is no
indication how any of Plaintiff’s other ailments equal some other component of the listing.
There is, instead, a laundry list of impairments, and the apparent hope the Court will infer
error.
On this question of what analytical load the ALJ must carry, the Sixth Circuit has set
the bar pretty low. The Sixth Circuit has held that so long as the ALJ discusses a
claimant’s “combination of impairments,” they need not discuss each of those impairments
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in detail. Loy v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 901 F.2d 1306, 1310 (6th Cir. 1990). “An
ALJ's individual discussion of multiple impairments does not imply that he failed to consider
the effect of the impairments in combination, where the ALJ specifically refers to a
‘combination of impairments’ in finding that the plaintiff does not meet the listings. Id.
(citing Gooch v. Secretary of H.H.S., 833 F.2d 589, 592 (6th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484
U.S. 1075 (1988)).
Here, the record reflects that the ALJ did consider the cumulative effects of Plaintiff’s
impairments. ALJ LeCours specifically found that Plaintiff “does not have an impairment
or combination of impairments that meets or medically equals the severity of the listed
impairments.” (Doc. # 8-1, at 105) (emphasis added). And he further discussed the
evidence of record and how it showed the absence of any impairments that would trigger
listing 1.04. While the ALJ might have devoted more discussion to Listing 1.04, this is not
what the Sixth Circuit requires. His analysis on this issue, if unsatisfying and minimal, was
nevertheless legally adequate. The Court is bound by Gooch, and will not reverse the
ALJ’s decision on these grounds.
3.
The ALJ followed agency regulations in analyzing Plaintiff’s
obesity.
The ALJ properly considered evidence of Plaintiff’s obesity. Under Social Security
Regulation 02-1p, the agency must consider the impact obesity has on a claimant’s ability
to work. Titles II & Xvi: Evaluation of Obesity, SSR 02-1P, para. 8 (S.S.A Sept. 12, 2002).
Yet again, Plaintiff assumes that because the agency must consider an ailment, the agency
must consider it with sufficient detail to satisfy Plaintiff. That is not true here.
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In Cranfield v. Comm'r, Soc. Sec., 79 F. App'x 852 (6th Cir. 2003), the Sixth Circuit
addressed an appeal similar to Mr. Ison’s. The claimant, Ms. Cranfield, suffered from foot,
back, and leg problems. Id. at 853. She was also obese, a fact supported by multiple
physician reports.
Id. at 854-855.
Despite this, the Social Security Administration
determined that Ms. Cranfield was not disabled, and, importantly, it made this
determination without any specific discussion of her obesity. Id. at 857.
This omission, held the Circuit, was justified because there was no evidence that
obesity significantly affected her ability to work. “Neither Ms. Cranfield nor her doctors
offered any evidence to suggest that her weight was a significant impairment. Since Ms.
Cranfield's claims did not indicate that obesity was a significant impairment, the ALJ was
not required to give the issue any more attention than he did.” Cranfield, 79 F. App'x at
857. Because there was little evidence that obesity significantly affected the claimant’s
condition, the ALJ was not required to discuss obesity in any great detail.
The Court sees no reason to distinguish Cranfield from the present dispute.
Plaintiff’s brief says nothing about how obesity complicates his condition. (Doc. # 20-1, 911). Yes, Dr. El-Amin diagnosed Plaintiff with obesity, but the same was true of Ms.
Cranfield. Again, Plaintiff’s counsel must do more than cite agency regulations and imply
that the ALJ failed to follow them. The ALJ considered Plaintiff’s “hyperlipidemia, obesity,
and sciatica” in formulating his RFC. (Doc. # 8-1, at 30). Agency regulations, and the Sixth
Circuit’s Cranfield decision, impose no heightened burden on the ALJ. Neither Plaintiff’s
memorandum, nor the record, indicate that Plaintiff’s obesity was so severe that it required
fuller explication. The ALJ need only consider that ailment, and the record shows that he
did so.
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4.
The ALJ satisfactorily followed SSR 96-7p.
Social Security Regulation 96-7p requires that the ALJ’s credibility determinations
must make clear to “the individual and to any subsequent reviewers the weight the
adjudicator gave to the individual's statements and the reasons for that weight.” Rogers v.
Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 486 F.3d 234, 248 (6th Cir. 2007). Plaintiff claims that the ALJ erred
on this front, but his arguments on this point are so underdeveloped that they violate
multiple Court orders.
Plaintiff’s fourth argument has two citations to the record, both of which occur in the
first paragraph. The first of these citations supports the proposition that Dr. Irlandez’s RFC
was completed before evidence of Plaintiff’s degenerative disk disease came to light. (Doc.
# 20-1, at 11). The second of these supports the allegation that the “ALJ incorrectly
indicated that Gregory had not had injection therapy for his pain,” (Id.) But this is false, as
the ALJ indicated that Plaintiff was “utilizing injections as well as pain medication.”1 (Doc.
#8 8-1, at 30).
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Court’s own orders require more than
sparse citations to the record, some of which are inaccurate. Those rules demand that
lawyers support all factual claims with citations to the record. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1).
On April 7, 2014, the Court, finding counsel’s factual citations inadequate, gave him an
opportunity to correct his errors. In its order, the Court wrote that “[o]n page 13, for
instance, Plaintiff’s counsel compiles a laundry list of facts allegedly derived from the
administrative record–among them, that Plaintiff suffers from an edema and that Plaintiff
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The ALJ also notes that, at other times, Plaintiff had refused injective treatments for pain. (See,
e.g., Doc. # 8-1, at 23). But the ALJ does not, as Plaintiff claims, ignore Plaintiff’s injective treatments.
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uses heating pads to help with pain. And yet, on the entire page, nary a citation to the
record can be found.” (Doc. # 17, at 2). The Court ordered Plaintiff’s counsel to correct
this error, but he has failed to do so. In the very same section of his brief, Plaintiff again
cites to those very same facts with the very same failure to cite to the record.
As the Court noted in that same Order, the Court will not search through the record,
as that is the job of lawyers–not judges. To again borrow the words of Judge Richard
Posner, “we cannot write a party's brief, pronounce ourselves convinced by it, and so rule
in the party's favor. That's not how an adversarial system of adjudication works. Unlike the
inquisitorial systems of Continental Europe, Japan, and elsewhere, our system is heavily
dependent on the parties' lawyers for evidence, research, and analysis.” Xue Juan Chen
v. Holder, 737 F.3d 1084, 1085 (7th Cir. 2013).
More importantly, as the Court’s September 27, 2013 order indicates, “failure to
provide specific citations to the record may constitute grounds for denial of the motion.”
The Court has already offered Plaintiff’s counsel an opportunity to cure this defect, and he
has failed. Because of that, Plaintiff’s fourth argument is waived.
Even were it not waived, the Court finds ample support for the ALJ’s credibility
determination. He rated Plaintiff’s credibility as only fair, because Plaintiff declined surgery
to correct his problems and reported that pain medication was effective for his pain, even
if it failed to eliminate it. (Doc. # 8-1, at 28). Plaintiff’s heart condition is under control, and
he suffers from no decreased range of motion. (Id. at 23). Further, Plaintiff testified that
he continued to work after his disability onset date building garages. (Id. at 24; Doc. # 8-1,
at 40).
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There are certainly facts in the record that bolster Plaintiff’s claims of more
debilitating pain, but it is not the Court’s job to determine whether the ALJ’s determination
is perfect. It is, instead, the Court’s job to determine whether the ALJ’s opinion was
supported by substantial evidence. Given the evidence of record, and Plaintiff’s counsel’s
failure to cite to the record, the ALJ’s decision has cleared that bar.
5.
The ALJ relied on accurate VE testimony.
Plaintiff’s fifth and final argument is that the ALJ relied on inadequate VE testimony.
Under agency regulations, the hypothetical supplied to a vocational expert must accurately
reflect Plaintiff’s limitations. Varley v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 820 F.2d 777, 779
(6th Cir. 1987). Otherwise, the testimony elicited from the VE will not constitute substantial
evidence. Id.
Plaintiff’s efforts to show that the VE relied on an inaccurate hypothetical fail. During
the hearing, the ALJ first posed a hypothetical claimant who could perform a “full range of
light work” with certain further limitations. (Doc. # 8-1, at 79). The VE explained that such
an individual could perform a number of “light and sedentary jobs”–among them labeler and
machine tender. (Id. at 79-80). There is nothing inaccurate about the hypothetical or the
testimony derived from it. In fact, the hypothetical hewed closely to the RFC adopted by
the ALJ.
It is true, as Plaintiff notes, that when supplied with a more limited hypothetical
claimant, the VE advised the ALJ that such a claimant would qualify as disabled. (Doc. #
8-1, at 81). Yet that hypothetical was based on an “assumption...that I find claimant’s
testimony credible.” (Id.) As discussed previously, however, the ALJ did not find the
claimant’s testimony fully credible, and so Plaintiff’s arguments here are essentially just a
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rehash of his prior claims–that the RFC is somehow deficient; that the ALJ failed to give
Plaintiff’s testimony its due weight.
Because the Court has already rejected those
arguments, the Court will not find that the ALJ relied on deficient VE testimony.
IV.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, for the reasons stated herein,
IT IS ORDERED that:
(1)
The Commissioner’s Motion for Summary Judgment is hereby granted;
(2)
Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment is hereby denied;
(3)
A Judgment shall be entered contemporaneously with this opinion.
This 7th day of August, 2014.
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