Robert Gaston v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

MEMORANDUM

Robert Howard Gaston appeals from a district court judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s final decision denying his application for Social Security Disability benefits and Supplemental Secu rity Income. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I

Gaston seeks review of the ALJ’s determination that, separately or taken together, his severe impairments did not meet or medically equal Listing 1.02A (major dysfunction of a joint). To be determined to be presumptively disabled, Gaston needed to show either that one or more of his impairments meets all of the characteristics of Listing 1.02A or that his symptoms and the medical evidence demonstrate that one or more of his impairments equals the characteristics of a relevant listed impairment. Tackett v. Apfel, 180 F.3d 1094, 1099 (9th Cir.1999).

The ALJ’s determination that Gaston failed to demonstrate that his knee impairment meets each of the characteristics for Listing 1.02A is supported by substantial evidence, including medical evidence showing that Gaston had full range of motion in his knees. Id. at 1099-1100 . Additionally, although the characteristics of Listing 1.02A require…