Donna Duncan v. Carolyn Colvin

MEMORANDUM

Donna Duncan appeals the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of her application for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

Duncan contends that the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) erred by failing to consider the lay witness statement of her daughter, Cassandra Nelson, who completed a questionnaire describing Duncan’s limitations. Although the ALJ’s failure to give germane reasons for discounting Nelson’s testimony was an error, Molina v. Astrue, 674 F.3d 1104, 1114 (9th Cir.2012), this error was harmless because Nelson’s lay testimony described the same limitations that Duncan herself described. The ALJ’s clear and convincing reasons for rejecting Duncan’s testimony, which Duncan does not challenge on appeal, also apply to Nelson’s testimony. Id. at 1121-22 .

Duncan also contends that the ALJ erred by relying on vocational expert testimony and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (“DOT”) to find that she was not disabled because (1) the DOT is inconsistent with Social Security Ruling (“SSR”) 96-9p , concerning the effect of…