Owens v. Astrue, No. 12-3876 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff appealed the denial of his application for Social Security disability benefits and supplemental security income. The court concluded that the ALJ erred in determining plaintiff's residual functional capacity as "frequent to occasional" handling and fingering, because "frequent" and "occasional" were separate terms of art with distinct meanings. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded to the district court with directions to remand the case to the Commissioner for clarification of plaintiff's residual functioning capacity and for further proceedings.
Court Description: Civil case - Social Security. The ALJ erred in determining claimant's residual functional capacity as "frequent to occasional" handling and fingering as "frequent" and "occasional" are separate terms of art with distinct meaning,and claimant cannot perform his past relevant work if he is limited to "occasional" handling and fingering; remanded to the district court with directions to remand the case to the Commissioner for clarification of claimant's residual functional capacity and such further proceedings as may be warranted. [ August 22, 2013
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