Amber Ashley v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration

707 F. App'x 939
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 6, 2017
Docket17-11958 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 707 F. App'x 939 (Amber Ashley v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amber Ashley v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration, 707 F. App'x 939 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Amber Ashley appeals the district court’s order affirming the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration’s (“Commissioner”) denial of her application for disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income, filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) and 1383(c)(3). After review, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

A. Applications and Medical History

On October 21, 2010, Ashley applied for benefits, alleging a disability onset date of September 29, 2010 due to injuries she sustained in her left hip and leg in a car accident. As a result of her accident injuries, Ashley had several surgeries, including an open reduction internal fixation of her left hip and acetabulum with hardware placement for stabilization in October 2010 and a total left hip arthroplasty and removal of the hardware in July 2011. Ashley was prescribed medication to manage pain in her back and left leg and advised to continue physical therapy.

Ashley’s medical records showed that, in addition to her accident injuries, she had a history of other ailments, including, inter alia, migraine headaches, anemia subsequent to gastric bypass surgery in 2006, and anxiety, but those objective examinations were generally unremarkable.

B. ALJ Hearing

At an October 2012 hearing before an administrative law judge (“ALJ”), Ashley and a vocational expert (“VE”) Dr. Joseph Mann testified. Ashley said that she broke her left leg, hip, and pelvis in the car accident and had to stop working as a construction worker due to her injuries. Because of her injuries, Ashley could not sit or stand for longer than 15 or 20 minutes, frequently had to lie down, could bend only to a certain point, and occasionally used a wheelchair or walker. Ashley said that she was in constant pain in her waist, left hip, and leg, and that while her medication reduced her pain somewhat, it made her drowsy and sick.

Ashley explained that (1) she had had gastric bypass surgery, surgery to remove a melanoma on her back, and surgery on her hands for tingling and numbness, (2) she suffered from anxiety and depression, and (3) she had “anemic issues” that sometimes made her tired and required her to go “to a medical facility to get blood.”

C,ALJ’s Decision

Following the hearing, the ALJ issued an unfavorable decision on January 23, 2013. Applying the five-step evaluation process, the ALJ found that: (1) Ashley met insured status through December 31, 2010 and had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since September 29, 2010; (2) Ashley had the severe impairments of left posterior wall acetabular fracture, left femoral head impaction fracture, and left total hip arthroplasty; 1 (3) Ashley did not have an impairment or combination of impairments that met or equaled the severity of one of the listed impairments;] (4) Ashley could not perform her past relevant work, but she had the residual functional capacity (“RFC”) to perform sedentary work, and (5) considering Ashley’s age (33), education, work experience, and RFC, there were jobs (such as surveillance system monitor) that existed in the national economy that she could perform. As to Ashley’s RFC in step four, the ALJ found that Ashley could sit for one hour at one time, could stand or walk for thirty minutes at one time, sit for six hours and stand and walk for one hour in an eight-hour work day, occasionally reach, frequently use her hands for handling, fingering, feeling, and push/pull movements, frequently use her right foot and occasionally use her left foot for operation of foot controls, occasionally balance or stoop, but she could never climb ladders or stairs, kneel, crouch, crawl, or work around unprotected heights. Thus, the ALJ concluded that Ashley was not under a disability from September 29, 2010 through January 23, 2013.

In assessing Ashley’s RFC, the ALJ concluded that “[t]he documentary record in this case does not support the existence of disabling limitations as the result of claimant’s medically determinable impairments.” 2 As to Ashley’s statements that she could “not work on account of pain affecting her hip, pelvic area and left leg,” the ALJ found that “[tjhese allegations .,. are not corroborated by substantial evidence considered on the record as a whole,” including the clinical findings, opinions, and reports, of examining and treating physicians, “as well as the claimant’s admitted activities of daily living.” The ALJ further found that Ashley’s “pain complaints appear to be conducive to prescribed medication treatment,” and that Ashley’s report of adverse side effects from medication was not reflected in the record.

D. Appeals Council’s Decision

Ashley asked the Appeals Council to review the ALJ’s decision and submitted additional' treatment records, some of which were for treatment she received after the ALJ’s January 23, 2013 decision. The Appeals Council denied Ashley’s request for review. The Appeals Council stated that it had considered Ashley’s reasons for disagreeing with the ALJ’s decision and the additional evidence, which was listed in an attached Exhibit List and made a part of the record by a separate order. This additional evidence consisted of correspondence from Ashley’s attorney and medical records from healthcare providers, most of which pre-dated the ALJ’s decision. The Appeals Council found “that this information does not provide a basis for changing the [ALJ’s] decision.” 3

The Appeals Council indicated that it had “looked at” the treatment notes dated after the ALJ’s decision and determined that the ALJ “decided [Ashley’s] case through January 23, 2013.” According to the Appeals Council, these documents included treatment notes from: (1) UAB Hematology Oncology dated March 2014; (2) Alabama Cancer Care dated November 2013 to April 2014; (3) Gadsden Regional Medical Center dated September 2013 to November 2013; and (4) Riverview Regional Medical Center dated November 2013 to February 2014. The Appeals Council concluded that “[t]his new information is about a later time,” and “therefore, it does not affect the decision about whether you were disabled beginning on or before January 23, 2013.” The Appeals Council explained that this new information was available in Ashley’s electronic file in the event Ashley decided to apply again to determine whether she was disabled after January 23, 2013.

E.Motion to Remand in the District Court

In November 2014, Ashley filed her counseled complaint in the district court. On June 18, 2015, Ashley filed a motion to supplement the record and a motion to remand proceedings to the Appeals Council.

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Bluebook (online)
707 F. App'x 939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amber-ashley-v-commissioner-social-security-administration-ca11-2017.