Karen Garrison v. Carolyn W. Colvin

Karen Garrison appeals from a denial of Social Security benefits, arguing that the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) erred in rejecting her symptom testimony and in assigning little weight to the opinions of her treating medical caretakers. In a decision that the Commissioner does not contest, the district court determined that the ALJ erred in assessing the medical opinion evidence and remanded the case for further proceedings. We conclude that the ALJ also erred in discrediting Garrison’s symptom testimony, and that the district court abused its discretion in remanding for further proceedings. Applying our settled “credit-as-true” rule, we reverse the judgment below with instructions to remand this case to the ALJ for the calculation and award of benefits.

BACKGROUND

I

Karen Garrison was born in 1970. In an application for disability insurance benefits filed on September 7, 2007, she stated that she has been disabled since April 17, 2007 due to a combination of physical and mental impairments. Before her stated disability onset date, she worked as a bus driver, bus monitor, cashier, pizza cook, convenience store clerk, and customer service manager.

After Garrison’s…