District Judge Glenn Suddaby
Born in 1981, Lewis did not complete high school. His work history included part-time employment as a grocery store stock clerk, a gas station attendant, and in a fast-food restaurant. After review of an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) decision finding Lewis not disabled, the Social Security commissioner denied his application for disability benefits. The ALJ had found that although Lewis was severely impaired by post-surgery hip pain, affective and anxiety related disorders, and substance addiction, those impairments were not medically equal to impairments listed at 20 CFR Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1. The ALJ also found that Lewis had residual functional capacity to perform light work with certain limitations. On competing motions, the court granted the commissioner judgment on the pleadings and affirmed the decision denying Lewis disability benefits. Given that the opinions by Lewis’s treating physician were neither supported nor consistent with other record evidence, the ALJ did not err in assigning less than controlling weight to a 2009 medical opinion by Lewis’s treating physician. Further, the record revealed that objective medical evidence did not support Lewis’ statements about his limitations.
