Rounds v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., No. 13-35505 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff (Claimant) appealed the denial of her application for supplemental security income. The court concluded that the ALJ did not recognize the apparent conflict between claimant's residual functioning capacity (RFC) and the demands of Level Two reasoning and, therefore, the court could not determined whether substantial evidence supports the ALJ's five-step finding. The court vacated as to this issue and remanded for the ALJ to determine whether there is a reasonable explanation to justify relying on the vocational expert's testimony. Because the ALJ has not yet determined whether claimant established fibromyalgia as a medically determinable impairment under the 2010 diagnostic criteria and it may moot claimant's other arguments regarding her fibromyalgia diagnosis, the court need not reach claimant's other arguments at this time. The court held that the ALJ’s RFC determination adequately incorporated the opinions of Dr. McKenna and Dr. Boyd. The court discerned no error in the ALJ's consideration of claimant's testimony. Finally, to the extent the ALJ may have failed to consider lay witness evidence, the error was harmless because it was “inconsequential to the ultimate nondisability determination.” Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 7, 2015.
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