Melissa Morales v. Nancy Berryhill

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Melissa Morales v. Nancy Berryhill, 703 F. App'x 525 (9th Cir. 2017)

Melissa Morales v. Nancy Berryhill

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ***

Melissa Morales appeals the district court’s decision affirming the denial of her application for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C, § 1291, we review the district court’s order de novo, Trevizo v. Berryhill, 871 F.3d 664, 674 (9th Cir. 2017), and we affirm.

1. The ALJ did not err in discounting Dr. Shinada’s residual functional capacity evaluation (“RFC”). The ALJ gave “specific and legitimate reasons” for discounting Dr. Shinada’s RFC; it conflicted with his own treatment notes, the records of other examining physicians, and Morales’ testimony about her activities. Id, at 675. In contrast with the severe disability depicted in Dr. Shinada’s RFC, his treatment notes document reasonably stable, well-controlled lupus. Furthermore, the limitations in Dr. Shinada’s RFC were not corroborated by Dr. Lai, Dr. Wallace, Dr. Hwang, or Dr. Abejuela, none of whom reported significant limitations in Morales’ hands, arms, joints, or legs, or by Morales’ testimony, which did not mention any such limitations but recounted daily exercise, errands, and weekly classes. The ALJ’s reasons were set out with a “detailed and thorough summary of the facts and conflicting clinical evidence,” followed by the ALJ’s interpretation of that evidence and the ALJ’s findings. Id. (quoting Magallanes v. Bowen, 881 F.2d 747, 751 (9th Cir. 1989)). Therefore the ALJ’s discounting of Dr. Shinada’s RFC was not erroneous.

2. Nor did the ALJ err by finding Morales not wholly credible. The ALJ offered four “specific, clear and convincing” reasons for his credibility determination. Id. at 679. Morales’ claim that she was continuously too fatigued to work was inconsistent with her symptom reports of intermittent and mild joint pain and fatigue, her daily activities, the lack of objective clinical findings, and her intermittent discontinuation of her medication. The constellation of all four sources of inconsistency, presented in detail and at length by the ALJ, present sufficiently clear and convincing reasons to find Morales not wholly credible.

AFFIRMED.

***

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

Reference

Full Case Name
Melissa Priscilla MORALES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Nancy A. BERRYHILL, Acting Commissioner Social Security, Defendant-Appellee
Status
Unpublished