Ronald James Pope v. Michael J Astrue, No. 2:2012cv05260 - Document 20 (C.D. Cal. 2013)

Court Description: MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER by Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi, IT IS ORDERED THAT judgment shall be entered AFFIRMING the decision of the Commissioner denying benefits. (SEE ORDER FOR FURTHER DETAILS) (lmh)

Download PDF

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RONALD JAMES POPE, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 v. 15 CAROLYN W. COLVIN, ACTING COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL 1/ SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, 16 Defendant. 17 ) Case No. CV 12-5260 JCG ) ) ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ) ORDER ) ) ) ) ) ) ) 18 Ronald James Pope ( Plaintiff ) challenges the Social Security 19 20 Commissioner s decision denying his application for disability benefits. 21 Specifically, Plaintiff contends that the Administrative Law Judge ( ALJ ) 22 improperly rejected his credibility. (Joint Stip. at 4-8, 13-15.) The Court addresses 23 and rejects Plaintiff s contentions below. An ALJ can reject a claimant s subjective complaints by expressing clear and 24 25 convincing reasons for doing so. Benton v. Barnhart, 331 F.3d 1030, 1040 (9th Cir. 26 2003). General findings are insufficient; rather, the ALJ must identify what 27 28 1/ Carolyn W. Colvin is substituted as the proper defendant herein. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). 1 testimony is not credible and what evidence undermines the claimant s complaints. 2 Lester v. Chater, 81 F.3d 821, 834 (9th Cir. 1995). 3 Here, the ALJ provided two valid reasons in support of his credibility 4 determination. 5 First, the ALJ found that Plaintiff s behavior in relation to his treatment 6 history undermined the alleged severity of his impairments. (AR at 24); see Fair v. 7 Bowen, 885 F.2d 597, 603 (9th Cir. 1989) (failure to follow prescribed course of 8 treatment can cast doubt on sincerity of claimant s pain testimony). For instance, 9 when Plaintiff visited the Veterans Administration in May 2008, he had already been 10 living without his medications for six months, suggesting that his condition was 11 more benign than alleged. (Id.; see AR at 257.) Also indicating milder symptoms is 12 Plaintiff s testimony that he no longer takes Vicodin for his pain. (AR at 24; see AR 13 at 80.) Lastly, and perhaps most troubling, Plaintiff has continued to consume 14 alcohol despite warnings from his doctors regarding its adverse effects on his 15 neuropathy and gout.2/ (AR at 24; see, e.g., AR at 258, 262, 276, 292, 298, 301.) 16 Given these inconsistencies, the ALJ made no error in discrediting Plaintiff. Second, though Plaintiff alleges intense foot pain, the ALJ found the severity 17 18 of this complaint to be weakened by Plaintiff s daily activities. (AR at 23-24.) 19 Indeed, Plaintiff s foot pain is apparently so severe that he cannot stand for longer 20 than 15- to 20-minutes. (AR at 23; see AR at 75.) Yet, despite these alleged 21 difficulties, Plaintiff was, for example, able to move his belongings when relocating 22 to another home. (AR at 23-24; see AR at 183.) Notably, with respect to that move, 23 Plaintiff only described pain resulting from lift[ing] heavy things, such as his bed 24 dresser. (AR at 183.) Were Plaintiff s foot pain as severe as alleged, one would not 25 26 2/ Incidentally, Plaintiff s refusal to heed the advice of his doctors weighs heavily against his contention that his impairments do not have a cure. (Joint Stip. 28 at 7.) 27 2 1 expect Plaintiff to engage in such physically demanding activities. Thus, as to this 2 ground, the ALJ s credibility determination remains intact.3/ 3 Accordingly, the Court finds that substantial evidence supported the ALJ s 4 decision that Plaintiff was not disabled. See Mayes v. Massanari, 276 F.3d 453, 5 458-59 (9th Cir. 2001). Based on the foregoing, IT IS ORDERED THAT judgment shall be entered 6 7 AFFIRMING the decision of the Commissioner denying benefits. 8 9 Dated: April 30, 2013 10 ____________________________________ 11 Hon. Jay C. Gandhi 12 United States Magistrate Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3/ The ALJ did, however, erroneously find inconsistencies between Plaintiff s alleged impairments and several of his daily activities (e.g., cook[ing] his own meals, run[ning] errands, perform[ing] household cleaning, and shop[ping] weekly for groceries ). (AR at 23.) These activities are not so physically or mentally demanding that it is apparent that Plaintiff exaggerated his limitations. Under the clear and convincing standard, then, there must be some explanation of how these activities undermine the specific limitations alleged by Plaintiff. See Lester, 81 F.3d at 834. In any event, considering the adequacy of the rest of the ALJ s credibility analysis, this error is harmless. See Batson v. Comm r of Soc. Sec., 359 F.3d 1190, 1197 (9th Cir.2004). 3

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.