Lott v. Colvin

541 F. App'x 702
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 16, 2013
DocketNo. 13-1180
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 541 F. App'x 702 (Lott v. Colvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lott v. Colvin, 541 F. App'x 702 (7th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

Nancy Lott challenges the district court’s decision upholding the Social Security Administration’s denial of her application for disability benefits. Lott argues that the administrative law judge wrongly discredited her testimony and erred in concluding that her medical records showed that she could continue working as a secretary despite a long list of maladies. The magistrate judge thoroughly analyzed these arguments and determined that substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s decision. We affirm.

At the age of 53, Lott applied for disability insurance benefits, alleging that her vision and hearing problems, carpal tunnel, type-I diabetes, kidney disease, and related side effects left her unable to work. She had worked for 22 years as a secretary until being laid off in 2008, her alleged onset date. At issue in this appeal are her hearing and vision problems, carpal tunnel syndrome, and mental health issues. (Her remaining infirmities are thoroughly discussed in the magistrate judge’s decision. Lott v. Astrue, No. 11 CV 5632, 2012 WL 5995736, at *1-3 (N.D.Ill. Nov. 30, 2012).)

Lott attributes many of her medical issues to a 1996 car accident. She underwent surgery to repair the bones around her eyes and jaw after the accident, and had her left retina surgically reattached two years later. Her ophthalmologist stated that Lott’s vision — 20/30 in her right eye and 20/100 in her left while wearing glasses — was stable since her 1998 eye surgery and opined that Lott had limited hand-eye coordination but could read fine print and drive safely. Her ear issues were more recent: she had small tubes inserted into her eardrums in 2004 and 2007 to relieve pressure. A hearing test preceding the 2007 procedure showed hearing loss in both ears. Lott suffers numbness and tingling in her fingers caused by carpal tunnel syndrome, and her doctors have attempted to alleviate her pain with splints, cortisone injections, and acupuncture. A consultative physical examination by a state doctor in 2009 showed that she had normal grip strength and full range of motion in her hands.

In terms of her mental health issues, Lott alleged that her depression and anxiety prevented her from concentrating on tasks. A psychologist diagnosed her in 2009 with an anxiety disorder and depression and described her concentration and memory as poor. After reviewing the record, another psychologist opined that Lott was limited to “simple routine tasks” because of her concentration problems and poor memory.

At the hearing before the ALJ, Lott discussed how her symptoms affected her daily activities. She explained that she could prepare basic meals, do laundry, take out the garbage, and drive on clear days, but she added that she needed help from her daughter for shopping, cleaning, and driving on cloudy days. She testified that she had “a big mass” floating in her eyes that occasionally blocked her vision and made it hard to read or use a computer for more than half an hour. She also described frequent headaches and said that she had difficulty focusing. Lott wanted surgery to relieve her carpal tunnel, but could not afford the deductible; she added that she could crochet only for 15-minute intervals and could not manipulate small objects. She added that she worked four afternoons per week as a companion for a visually-impaired woman, a job that mostly involved sitting, talking, and walking short distances. A vocational [705]*705expert testified that a person with Lott’s background, able to use her hands for one-third to two-thirds of the workday, able to stand or walk two hours per day, and having no mental impairments, could work as a secretary.

The ALJ concluded that Lott was not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. Following the required five-step analysis, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(a)(4), 416.920(a)(4), the ALJ determined that Lott had not engaged in substantial work since her alleged onset date (step one); her carpal tunnel was a severe impairment (step two); it did not meet or equal a listed impairment (step three); she had the residual functional capacity (RFC) to perform light work (step four); and, based on the vocational expert’s testimony, she could perform her past work as a secretary (step five). At step five, the ALJ concluded that Lott’s symptoms, as recounted in her testimony, were “not credible to the extent they are inconsistent with” the RFC analysis. In the ALJ’s view, Lott’s testimony conflicted with reports from her ophthalmologist, the results of her 2009 physical examination, and her own account of her daily activities. The ALJ also noted that Lott’s receipt of unemployment benefits was conditioned on her certifying that she was willing and able to work, leading the ALJ to believe that Lott sought disability because she could not find a job, not because she was unable to work.

After the Appeals Council denied review, the magistrate judge, presiding by consent, concluded that substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s decision. The magistrate judge agreed with the ALJ that Lott could continue working as her medical records confirmed that her symptoms had not worsened since she last worked as a secretary. And although the ALJ used often-criticized boilerplate language in her credibility analysis (stating that Lott’s symptoms “are not credible to the extent they are inconsistent with” her RFC), the magistrate judge upheld the adverse credibility finding as not patently wrong. The magistrate judge explained that the ALJ adequately justified her finding by pointing to inconsistencies in Lott’s testimony— notably that her alleged limitations conflicted with her ability to work at her part-time companion job.

On appeal, Lott primarily argues that the ALJ, in analyzing her RFC, overlooked her hearing loss, vision problems, carpal tunnel, and depression and failed to consider their aggregate effect. Lott contends that the ALJ glossed over her testimony of severe limitations in her daily activities — limitations that, she asserts, show why she can no longer work as a secretary.

But with respect to Lott’s carpal tunnel and vision problems, the ALJ properly relied on the medical record to conclude that Lott’s physical limitations do not prevent her from working. An ALJ may credit doctors’ statements over a claimant’s testimony, see Jones v. Astrue, 623 F.3d 1155, 1161-62 (7th Cir.2010). Here the ALJ reasonably rejected Lott’s testimony in light of her ophthalmologist’s conclusion that she could read fine print and drive safely. She also considered a state physician’s determination that Lott had normal grip strength and range of motion in her hands. In tailoring the RFC analysis, ALJs may rely on a claimant’s daily activities, see Castile v. Astrue, 617 F.3d 923, 927-28 (7th Cir.2010); Skinner v. Astrue, 478 F.3d 836, 844-45 (7th Cir. 2007). The ALJ reasonably concluded that Lott could use her hands frequently (one-third to two-thirds of the workday) as reflected by her ability to complete household chores, crochet for 15-minute inter[706]*706vals, and organize items while working part-time as a companion.

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Bluebook (online)
541 F. App'x 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lott-v-colvin-ca7-2013.