Oldham v. Astrue

• Decision Date: 07 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 07-1087.,07-1087.
• Citation: 509 F.3d 1254
• Parties: Dee OLDHAM, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Michael J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

509 F.3d 1254

Dee OLDHAM, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Michael J. ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 07-1087.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

December 7, 2007.

Submitted on the briefs:^*

Michael W. Seckar, Pueblo, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Troy A. Eid, United States Attorney, Kurt J. Bohn, Assistant United States Attorney, Thomas H. Kraus, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Deana R. Ertl-Lombardi, Regional Chief Counsel, Yvette G. Keesee, Deputy Regional Counsel, Social Security Administration, Office of the General Counsel, Denver, Colorado for Defendant-Appellee.

Before HARTZ, Circuit Judge, BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge, and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Dee Oldham appeals the decision of the district court affirming the denial by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of her application for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act (Act). Because the decision of the ALJ was supported by substantial evidence and the law was properly applied, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Ms. Oldham claims to have been disabled since February 1995 as a result of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)¹, seizures, and memory problems. In his initial decision the ALJ determined that Ms. Oldham did not have any severe impairments. That determination was reversed by the Appeals Council, which remanded the case for further consideration after stating that "[t]he evidence in the record indicates that the claimant's impairments are severe." A.R. Vol. II at 647. The ALJ interpreted the remand to require him to begin his new analysis at step four of the familiar five-step sequential evaluation process, see Lax v. Astrue, 489 F.3d 1080, 1084 (10th Cir.2007), an analysis that includes a determination of an applicant's residual functional capacity despite the presence of severe impairments, Winfrey v. Chater, 92 F.3d 1017, 1023 (10th Cir. 1996), and that "requires the claimant to show that the impairment or combination of impairments prevents [her] from performing [her] past work," Lax, 489 F.3d at 1084 (internal quotation marks omitted). If the claimant satisfies that burden, she is entitled to benefits unless, at step five, the Commissioner establishes "that the claimant retains sufficient [residual functional capacity] to perform work in the national economy, given her age, education, and work experience." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

The ALJ determined that Ms. Oldham had the residual functional capacity to perform a significant range of light work, that there were a significant number of jobs in the national economy that she could perform, and that she was therefore not disabled under the Act. His conclusions followed in large part from his assessment of Ms. Oldham's credibility. He stated:

Evaluating the extent and nature of the claimant's functional capacity is significantly complicated by extensive and chronic inaccuracies endemic throughout the medical evidence. The credibility of the claimant is in serious doubt, and uncorroborated medical information, allegations, findings, and conclusions must be weighed in the context of a great body of inconsistent, contradictory, and questionable information throughout the medical record.

A.R. Vol. I at 23.

The district court affirmed the ALJ's decision. It held that the ALJ had properly treated Ms. Oldham's RSD and mental impairments as severe. After noting the contradictions in the record regarding the extent of Ms. Oldham's impairments and their effect on her ability to work, it also held that the ALJ had properly addressed the contradictory opinions, "reject[ing] those [residual-functional-capacity] opinions that were based upon Oldham's subjective complaints and test results which Oldham could manipulate because the ALJ did not find Oldham credible." Id. at 142. Because the ALJ's credibility finding was supported by substantial evidence, the court refused to disturb it.

DISCUSSION

On appeal to this court, Ms. Oldham argues that the ALJ erred in failing to determine that her RSD constitutes a severe impairment and that she also has severe mental impairments. She further contends that the ALJ failed to weigh properly the relevant medical evidence and failed to consider the opinion of Dr. Madsen, an examining psychologist. Our review is to determine whether the Commissioner applied the correct legal standards and whether his decision is supported by substantial evidence. See Grogan v. Barnhart, 399 F.3d 1257, 1261 (10th Cir.2005).

We can easily dispose of Ms. Oldham's first two arguments, which relate to the severity of her impairments. The ALJ, in compliance with the ruling by the Appeals Council, made an explicit finding that Ms. Oldham suffered from severe impairments. That was all the ALJ was required to do in that regard. Ms. Oldham's real complaint is with how the ALJ ruled at step five. But, as correctly noted by the district court, a finding of severe impairments (which is made at step two) does not require the ALJ to find at step five that the claimant did not have the residual functional capacity to do any work. After finding severe impairments, the ALJ still had the task of determining the extent to which those impairments, whether RSD or mental impairments or both, restricted her ability to work.

Ms. Oldham's chief challenge on appeal regards the ALJ's evaluation of the medical evidence. To understand this challenge, we must first consider Ms. Oldham's credibility. She does not contest the ALJ's findings that her "allegations, statements and presentations, including those made to treating and examining doctors[,] [were] highly unreliable," A.R. Vol. I at 28, and that her "allegations regarding her limitations [were] not totally credible," id. at 44. It would have been futile to do so. Among other evidence inconsistent with her allegation of total disability is the medical record showing that, four years after the claimed onset of her disability, she was treated for possible chest and back injury after bales of hay fell on her while she was feeding some animals. In addition, two videotapes recorded in 2001 by Ms. Oldham's workers-compensation insurer showed her engaging in physical activity far beyond the capacity that she had reported to her various medical providers.

The credibility issue was critical to the determination of disability. After viewing the videotapes her treating psychologist, Dr. Evans, changed his earlier conclusion that Ms. Oldham was "not functional," A.R. Vol. I at 415, to an opinion that Ms. Oldham was consciously maintaining her symptoms, that he doubted the presence of any objective disease process, and that "Ms. Oldham is able to function independently quite nicely, including ambulating with or without her cane," id. at 413. The video also changed the opinion of Ms. Oldham's longtime treating physician, Dr. Kinnett, who had previously indicated that she needed a power-scooter wheelchair and that she would be wheelchair bound for life; he no longer believed that she needed a wheelchair. Based on the evidence indicating Ms. Oldham's propensity to exaggerate her symptoms and manipulate test results, the ALJ refused to credit opinions of treating and examining medical providers that depended on Ms. Oldham's veracity. See Hackett v. Barnhart, 395 F.3d 1168, 1173 (10th Cir.2005) (credibility determinations are peculiarly the province of the ALJ and will not be overturned if supported by substantial evidence). In our view, this refusal was proper.

Ms. Oldham makes several arguments that the refusal was unlawful. First, she contends that the ALJ did not properly apply Social Security Ruling 03-2p, which addresses RSD. She complains that the ALJ failed to acknowledge that transient findings are often a characteristic of RSD. See Social Security Ruling 03-2p, Titles II and XVI: Evaluating Cases Involving Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, 2003 WL 22399117, at *4 (S.S.A. Oct. 20, 2003). We disagree. The reason the ALJ discounted Ms. Oldham's claim of disability was her exaggeration of her symptoms and her inconsistent stories to various medical providers, not the ALJ's misapprehension of the nature of RSD.

Second, Ms. Oldham contends that the ALJ did not properly weigh the medical evidence. To the extent that she is asking this court to reweigh the evidence, we cannot do so. See Lax, 489 F.3d at 1084. We review only the sufficiency of the evidence, not its weight, see id.; and there was certainly enough evidence to support the ALJ's findings. Although the evidence may also have supported contrary findings, "[w]e may not displace the agency's choice between two fairly conflicting views, even though the court would justifiably have made a different choice had the matter been before it de novo." Id. (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted).

In any event, Ms. Oldham's principal focus appears to be a contention that the ALJ failed to comply with 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527. Under that...