William T. WINFREY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Shirley S. CHATER, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee

92 F.3d 1017, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 19895, 1996 WL 444144
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 7, 1996
Docket95-7139
StatusPublished
Cited by757 cases

This text of 92 F.3d 1017 (William T. WINFREY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Shirley S. CHATER, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
William T. WINFREY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Shirley S. CHATER, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee, 92 F.3d 1017, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 19895, 1996 WL 444144 (10th Cir. 1996).

Opinion

BARRETT, Senior Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff appeals the district court’s affir-mance of the Secretary’s decision denying him disability insurance benefits. 1 Plaintiff claims to have been disabled since April 1991 as a result of pain in his neck, shoulder, upper and lower back, and right leg, headaches, a catch in the middle finger of his left hand, tingling in his right hand, asthma, liver problems, hypoglycemia, hiatal hernia, depression, general anxiety disorder, and soma-toform disorder. After conducting two hearings and a de novo review of the record, the administrative law judge (ALJ) determined that plaintiff could return to his past relevant work as a truck driver, as that work is generally performed in the national economy. When the Appeals Council denied reidew, the ALJ’s decision became the final decision of the Secretary.

“We review the Secretary’s decision to determine whether it is supported by substantial evidence and whether the Secretary applied the correct legal standards.” Washington v. Shalala, 37 F.3d 1437, 1439 (10th Cir.1994). We must examine the record closely to determine whether substantial evidence supports the Secretary’s determination. Id. Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1427, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971)(quo-tation omitted). In addition to a lack of substantial evidence, the Secretary’s failure to apply the correct legal standards, or to show us that she has done so, are also grounds for reversal. Washington, 37 F.3d at 1439.

I. Background

Plaintiff, who was sixty years old at the time the ALJ issued the present decision, worked as a truck driver for Roadway Express for twenty-one years. Plaintiffs job required him not only to drive a truck, but to *1020 load and unload cargo. His testimony reflected that he performed the job at an exer-tional level between medium and heavy. In 1988, plaintiff sufféred a work-related injury to his neck and shoulder, for which he received worker’s compensation. As a result of alleged increasing difficulty in performing his job, plaintiff quit in April 1991. In a decision issued August 1992, the ALJ determined that plaintiff could perform a full range of medium work, but that, in light of his treating physician’s opinion that “the claimant’s loading of trucks and pulling down and latching doors may represent a difficulty for the claimant given his limitations,” Tr. at 241, plaintiff could not perform his past relevant work. The ALJ, therefore, proceeded to step five of the sequential analysis, see 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 (setting forth the five steps), where he concluded that plaintiff was not disabled based on the grids.

The Appeals Council reversed the ALJ’s decision and remanded the action to obtain further evidence concerning plaintiffs physical and'mental limitations and to reevaluate the evidence under proper legal principles. On remand, the ALJ found that plaintiff had the physical ability to perform a full range of medium work, but that he had nonexertional limitations resulting from his mental impairments. The ALJ concluded that, despite these limitations, plaintiff could return to his past work as a truck driver — as distinguished from his past work as a loader and unload-er — as that work is generally performed in the national economy. See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 82-61, Soc. — Sec. Rep. Serv., Rulings 1975-1982, 836, 838 (West 1983); Andrade v. Secretary of Health & Human Senrvs., 985 F.2d 1045, 1050-51 (10th Cir.1993)(holding that “past relevant work” includes not only claimant’s particular former job, but also claimant’s former occupation as it is generally performed in the national economy).

Plaintiff alleges five categories of error in the Secretary’s decision: improper evaluation of plaintiffs subjective complaints; improper evaluation of plaintiffs mental impairments; improper evaluation of plaintiffs residual functional capacity; improper evaluation of plaintiffs ability to return to his past relevant work; and improper application of the vocational expert’s testimony. We will address each in turn.

II. Evaluation of Subjective Complaints

“A claimant’s subjective allegation of pain is not sufficient in itself to establish disability. Before the ALJ need even consider any subjective evidence of pain, the claimant must first prove by objective medical evidence the existence of a pain-producing impairment that could reasonably be expected to produce the alleged disabling pain.” Thompson v. Sullivan, 987 F.2d 1482, 1488 (10th Cir.1993) (citations omitted). Plaintiff met this initial burden here. X-rays of plaintiffs cervical spine taken in 1991 showed marked degenerative changes, and x-rays of his left shoulder showed degenerative changes and a nairowing of the AC joint. A CAT scan of plaintiffs cervical spine in the fall of 1991 revealed “extensive osteoarthritis changes of the facet joints without evidence of [a] ruptured disk,” Tr. at 206, and x-rays of plaintiffs lumbosacral spine showed “moderate lipping of osteoarthritis,” but “no degenerative. changes,” id. at 213. The ALJ was then required to consider all the relevant objective and subjective evidence and “decide whether he believe[d] the claimant’s assertions of severe pain,” Luna v. Bowen, 834 F.2d 161, 163 (10th Cir.1987). The ALJ found that plaintiffs subjective complaints of pain were not credible to the extent they suggested he could not perform a full range of medium work.

“Findings as to credibility should be closely and affirmatively linked to substantial evidence-” Huston v. Bowen, 838 F.2d 1125, 1133 (10th Cir.1988). “Credibility determinations are peculiarly the province of the finder of fact, [however,] and we will not upset such determinations when supported by substantial evidence.” Diaz v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 898 F.2d 774, 777 (10th Cir.1990).

Here, some of the reasons advanced by the ALJ for finding plaintiffs subjective complaints of pain incredible were not supported by substantial evidence. The most notable of these was the ALJ’s determination that plaintiff had an incentive not to work. This *1021

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92 F.3d 1017, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 19895, 1996 WL 444144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/william-t-winfrey-plaintiff-appellant-v-shirley-s-chater-commissioner-ca10-1996.