Hudnall

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JOHN S. HUDNALL, No. 23-3727 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellant, 4:22-cv-02864-

DMR

v.

OPINION

LELAND DUDEK, Acting Commissioner of Social Security,

Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Donna M. Ryu, Chief Magistrate Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 19, 2024 San Jose, California

March 7, 2025

Before: Susan P. Graber, Michelle T. Friedland, and Patrick J. Bumatay, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Bumatay SUMMARY *

Social Security Disability Benefits

The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment affirming the denial of John Hudnall’s application for disability benefits, and held that under the Social Security Administration’s new regulations promulgated in 2017, Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) are no longer required to provide germane reasons when discounting the testimony of lay witnesses. Prior to the 2017 regulations, this court’s precedent required ALJs to give germane reasons to each witness when discounting nonmedical lay testimony in Social Security…