O'Connor-Spinner v. Astrue

• Decision Date: 29 November 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-4083,09-4083
• Citation: 161 Soc.Sec.Rep.Serv. 374,627 F.3d 614
• Parties: Louquetta R. O'CONNOR-SPINNER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Michael J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

627 F.3d 614

161 Soc.Sec.Rep.Serv. 374

Louquetta R. O'CONNOR-SPINNER, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.Michael J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 09-4083.

United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.

Argued July 8, 2010.

Decided Nov. 29, 2010.

Timothy J. Vrana (argued), Columbus, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

James B. Geren (argued), Social Security Administration, Office of the RegionalChief Counsel, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before BAUER, RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Louquetta R. O'Connor-Spinner appeals the order of the district court upholding the Social Security Administration's denial of her 2004 application for Supplemental Security Income and Disability Insurance Benefits. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner principally contends that the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ"), who denied her application for benefits, erred by failing to include her moderate limitation on concentration, persistence and pace in the hypothetical he posed to a vocational expert ("VE"). She submits that this omission yielded flawed vocational evidence and an unsupported conclusion that she could obtain competitive employment. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner also contends that the ALJ failed to consider evidence of an additional social limitation. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand this case for further proceedings before the agency.

IBACKGROUND

A.

Ms. O'Connor-Spinner, who is presently forty-one, suffers from depression and a variety of physical ailments. We focus here on the evidence of Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's depression ¹ and do not recite the ample evidence of her physical impairments-degenerative disc disease, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep apnea, restrictive lung disease and obesity ²-because the parties agree on the significance of the physical impairments.

The application for benefits underlying this appeal was filed in January 2004. In her application, Ms. O'Connor-Spinner claimed that increasingly severe physical and mental impairments left her unable to perform her past work as a delicatessen clerk, nurse's aide, shoe gluer or fast-food worker. She maintained that these impairments also prevented her from performing other work in the national economy.

Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's benefit application alleges an onset date for her depression of December 2003. However, her documentary evidence indicates that, even prior to that date, physicians investigating her physical ailments had observed signs of depression and discovered a medical history of depression and treatment with prescription antidepressants. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner had visited a community mental-health center for treatment of her depression three times during 2002, but after those visits, the center lost contact with her. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner previously had applied for disability benefits in 2001; however, a state-agency physician who reviewed her file in October 2002 concluded that her mental impairments, at that time, were not sufficiently severe.

Medical records from the years 2004 and 2005 document treatment for Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's physical ailments and only allude to her history of depression and prescriptions for antidepressants. The administrative record does not contain treatmentrecords from mental-health providers after 2002.

In order to develop the record of Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's depression and related limitations, the state agency requested that Dr. Kamla Paul, a psychologist, examine her in May 2004. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner told Dr. Paul that in the past she had experienced confusion, crying fits, violent outbursts (which included hitting her husband and pulling a knife on him) and attempts at suicide. Dr. Paul identified antidepressants among her medications. According to Dr. Paul, many of Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's abilities, such as abstraction and remote-memory access, were adequate. Her immediate memory and general information, however, were poor, and she suffered from a dysphoric mood and flat affect. Dr. Paul reiterated that Ms. O'Connor-Spinner "gets confused" and diagnosed her with depression. A.R. at 249-50.

Later that month, a different state-agency psychologist, Dr. D. Unversaw, reviewed Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's file. Dr. Unversaw concluded that Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's depression caused a moderate limitation on concentration, persistence and pace. The report by Dr. Unversaw also concluded, without elaboration, that this limitation would not prevent Ms. O'Connor-Spinner from performing moderately complex tasks. Dr. Unversaw checked a box, on another section of the form, indicating a limitation on receiving instructions and responding appropriately to supervisors. In addition, Dr. Unversaw summarized a third-party statement from Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's mother that Ms. O'Connor-Spinner responds to the rudeness of others by becoming rude herself.

The Social Security Administration denied Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's claim, initially in March 2004 and on reconsideration in July 2004. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner timely requested a hearing before an ALJ.

B.

1.

At a hearing before the ALJ in January 2006, Ms. O'Connor-Spinner testified that she frequently thought about suicide, sometimes went on eating binges or slept for days at a time, and rarely left her home. She admitted that she had failed to procure the most recent records of her mental-health treatment, but her attorney agreed to update the record, which the ALJ held open for thirty days. The additional mental-health records, however, never were submitted.

William Cody, a VE who was familiar with Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's work history but not her medical history, also testified at the hearing. The ALJ asked Mr. Cody to consider whether a hypothetical worker with certain limitations could perform Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's past work or other work in the national economy. In doing so, the ALJ posed a series of increasingly restrictive hypotheticals. The most restrictive hypothetical included Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's physical limitations, restricting her to sedentary work with breaks for stretching every thirty minutes, frequent (but not constant) handling or fingering, and no concentrated exposure to a variety of environmental irritants. The hypothetical worker could exert ten pounds of force occasionally and five pounds frequently and would face additional limitations for prolonged walking and postural activities like crouching or crawling. Further, the hypothetical worker was restricted to routine, repetitive tasks with simple instructions. The most restrictive hypothetical question did not, however, include a limitation on concentration, persistence and pace, although later in his written decision the ALJ listed this limitation in assessingMs. O'Connor-Spinner's residual functional capacity ("RFC"). Neither did the ALJ include any limitation on receiving instruction and responding appropriately to supervisors.

Mr. Cody testified that a person with the limitations specified in the hypothetical could not perform Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's past work as a delicatessen clerk, nurse's aide, shoe gluer or fast-food worker, but could adjust to work as a sedentary cashier, hand packer or telephone solicitor. For a sedentary cashier, the VE estimated that 200 jobs were available in the region; for a hand packer, the number was 75, and for a telephone solicitor, 100.

After considering the evidence, the ALJ concluded that Ms. O'Connor-Spinner was not disabled. In so finding, the ALJ applied the standard five-step analysis. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520, 416.920. The ALJ determined that Ms. O'Connor-Spinner had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since December 2003 (step one); suffered from severe impairments as a result of degenerative disc disease, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep apnea, restrictive lung disease, obesity and depression (step two); did not have any impairments that met or equaled the listings (step three); could no longer perform her former jobs (step four); but could do other jobs and thus was not disabled (step five).

2.

The Appeals Council declined review in October 2006. Ms. O'Connor-Spinner then filed this action seeking judicial review in the district court, and the court upheld the ALJ's decision in December 2007. In January 2008, Ms. O'Connor-Spinner filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment, which the district court denied in November 2009.

IIDISCUSSION

A.

Because the Appeals Council denied Ms. O'Connor-Spinner's request for review, the ALJ's ruling is the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security. See Liskowitz v. Astrue, 559 F.3d 736, 739 (7th Cir.2009). We review that determination directly, rather than deferring to the decision of the district court. Id. In reviewing the ALJ's decision, we examine whether it is supported by substantial evidence. See 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); Getch v. Astrue, 539 F.3d 473, 480 (7th Cir.2008). An ALJ need not specifically address every piece of evidence, but must provide a "logical bridge" between the evidence and his conclusions. Getch, 539 F.3d at 480; Clifford v. Apfel, 227 F.3d 863, 872 (7th Cir.2000).

B.

Ms. O'Connor-Spinner presents two challenges on appeal.

1.

First, Ms. O'Connor-Spinner contends that the ALJ erred in omitting her moderate limitation on concentration, persistence and pace from the hypothetical posed to the VE, even though the ALJ found that such a limitation exists. The Commissioner concedes the general principle that the hypothetical must account for all limitations, but contends that the ALJ implicitly incorporated all limitations into the question by confining the hypothetical worker to routine, repetitive tasks with simple instructions. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the ALJ's hypothetical did not supply the VE with information adequate to determine whether Ms.O'Connor-Spinner could perform jobs in the national economy.

Our cases generally have required the ALJ to orient the VE to the totality of a claimant's...