UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Filed 8/29/96
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
ONETTA A. WEBSTER,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 95-5231
(D.C. No. 94-C-78-B)
SHIRLEY S. CHATER, (N.D. Okla. )
Commissioner, Social Security
Administration, *
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT **
*
Effective March 31, 1995, the functions of the Secretary of Health and
Human Services in social security cases were transferred to the Commissioner of
Social Security. P.L. No. 103-296. Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c), Shirley S.
Chater, Commissioner of Social Security, is substituted for Donna E. Shalala,
Secretary of Health and Human Services, as the defendant in this action.
Although we have substituted the Commissioner for the Secretary in the caption,
in the text we continue to refer to the Secretary because she was the appropriate
party at the time of the underlying decision.
**
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Before TACHA, ALDISERT, *** and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges. ****
Plaintiff Onetta Webster appeals from an order of the district court
affirming the Secretary's decision denying her Social Security disability benefits.
Plaintiff filed an application for disability insurance benefits on July 16, 1992,
alleging a disability due to right shoulder pain, neck and knee pain, weakness in
her hands and dizziness. She claimed a disability onset date of October 10, 1991.
Plaintiff’s request for disability benefits was denied initially and on
reconsideration. Following a de novo hearing on August 10, 1993, an
administrative law judge (ALJ) determined that plaintiff was not disabled within
the meaning of the Social Security Act and denied disability benefits.
After considering all the medical evidence, the subjective evidence and
vocational expert testimony, the ALJ found that, with plaintiff’s impairments, she
retained the residual functional capacity to perform her past work in food
preparation and as a clothing stocker. Accordingly, the ALJ concluded plaintiff is
not disabled and denied benefits at step four of the controlling sequential
analysis. See generally Williams v. Bowen, 844 F.2d 748, 750-52 (10th Cir.
***
Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert, Senior Circuit Judge, United States Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation.
****
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
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1988)(detailing five-step analysis set out in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520). After the
Appeals Council denied review, making the ALJ’s decision the final decision of
the Secretary, plaintiff sought judicial review in the district court. Based upon
the report and recommendation of a magistrate judge, the district court affirmed
the Secretary’s decision.
“We review the Secretary's decision to determine whether it is supported by
substantial evidence and whether the Secretary applied the correct legal standards.
Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept
as adequate to support a conclusion." Soliz v. Chater, 82 F.3d 373, 375 (10th Cir.
1996)(citation and quotation omitted). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
On appeal, plaintiff first argues that there is insufficient evidence to
support the ALJ’s determination that she can return to her past relevant work
because the ALJ’s decision only mentions the medical evidence from the period
after the onset date of her alleged disability and does not discuss prior medical
evidence. We find no reversible error.
All of the medical evidence plaintiff complains the ALJ failed to consider
relates to her complaints of pain and reduced range of motion in her right
shoulder which predate the alleged onset date of her disability. The ALJ’s
decision does make brief reference to this medical evidence by noting that
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plaintiff had been given cortisone shots and pain medicine for her right shoulder,
and had taken physical therapy for her shoulder. The ALJ’s decision also states
that he considered the entire record, which included the medical reports prior to
plaintiff’s alleged onset date.
Although the ALJ’s decision does discuss the medical evidence from the
period after plaintiff’s alleged onset date in greater detail than earlier evidence,
the later evidence demonstrated that plaintiff’s shoulder complaints had been
resolved and that plaintiff had sufficiently improved to return to work. Most
significant, of course, are the reports from her treating physician immediately
before and after plaintiff’s onset date stating that plaintiff’s shoulder had greatly
improved, that plaintiff was making good progress and was able to return to work,
but chose not to because she didn’t need the income. Appellant’s App. Vol. II at
122, 125. This later evidence clearly had greater probative value with respect to
whether plaintiff was disabled than did earlier reports.
The ALJ’s decision reflects that he reviewed all of plaintiff’s medical
records, even if he did not discuss in great detail the records which predate
plaintiff’s alleged disability onset date. Moreover, we are satisfied from our
review of the record that the medical evidence prior to the alleged onset date does
not contradict, and indeed supports, the ALJ’s determination that plaintiff had the
residual functional capacity to return to her past relevant work. Thus, we
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conclude that the ALJ properly reviewed the evidence and adequately set forth the
basis for his determination.
Plaintiff next contends that the ALJ’s decision is not supported by
substantial evidence because he only evaluated the least strenuous aspects of her
past relevant work. This contention is not supported by a review of the record,
which demonstrates that the ALJ fully developed the record with respect to the
demands of plaintiff’s past relevant work through questioning of the plaintiff and
through the vocational expert’s testimony, id. at 15-17, 35-37, 49-51, 92-97, and
that the ALJ made an appropriate comparison of plaintiff’s residual functional
capacity to the demands of her past work, id. at 16-17, 50-52. The record
demonstrates that plaintiff only has difficulty with overhead reaching involving
her right shoulder, and the ALJ included this limitation in his questioning of the
vocational expert. Id. at 50-51. The ALJ’s development of the record and
evaluation of the demands of plaintiff’s past relevant work in the case contrasts
with the decision relied upon by plaintiff, Henrie v. United States Dep’t of
Health & Human Servs., 13 F.3d 359, 361 (10th Cir. 1993), in which we found
error where the ALJ took no evidence whatsoever concerning the demands of
claimant’s past relevant work.
Finally, we reject plaintiff’s suggestion that she would have been found
disabled had the ALJ performed a step five analysis because, here, the ALJ’s
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decision to terminate the review after finding plaintiff not disabled at step four
was appropriate. See Williams, 844 F.2d at 750 (if determination can be made at
any step, evaluation under subsequent steps is not necessary).
Because plaintiff has not demonstrated legal error in the ALJ’s analysis,
and because we conclude substantial evidence exists for the ALJ’s findings, the
judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of
Oklahoma is AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Bobby R. Baldock
Circuit Judge
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Webster v. Chater
Combined Opinion