Patricia Garcia v. Carolyn Colvin

FILED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

AUG 24 2016

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

PATRICIA GARCIA, No. 14-16435

Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 1:13-cv-01220-SAB

v.

MEMORANDUM*

CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Commissioner of Social Security,

Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Stanley Albert Boone, Magistrate Judge, Presiding

Submitted August 22, 2016**

Before: THOMAS, Chief Judge, D.W. NELSON, and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.

Patricia Garcia appeals the district court’s judgment affirming the

Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of Garcia’s applications for disability

insurance benefits and supplemental security income under Titles II and XVI of the

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). Social Security Act. Garcia contends that the administrative law judge (“ALJ”)

erred in giving little weight…

dissenting:

The majority concludes that the ALJ provided specific and legitimate reasons for giving very little weight to Dr. Montgomery’s opinions. I respectfully disagree.

First, the ALJ did not reasonably conclude that Dr. Montgomery’s opinions conflicted with his own examination of Garcia. Instead, the ALJ cherry picked the negative diagnostic tests from Dr. Montgomery’s report while ignoring other critical aspects. While the diagnostic tests reflect that Garcia may have reasonable use her upper arm and shoulder, which is apparently all the ALJ considered, other tests demonstrate that the opposite is true of her hand. Specifically, Dr. Montgomery’s tests reflect substantial weakness in Garcia’s grip, limited range of motion in her wrist, and extreme stiffness in Garcia’s fingers, Each time Dr. Montgomery evaluated Garcia, he found significantly below normal range of motion in all of the fingers on Garcia’s left hand. The ALJ’s determination that Dr. Montgomery’s examination findings did not support his conclusion that Garcia could not use her left arm in a work environment was therefore not legitimate.

Second, the ALJ did not reasonably conclude that Dr. Montgomery’s…

MEMORANDUM **

Patricia Garcia appeals the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of Garcia’s applications for disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income under Titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act. Garcia contends that the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) erred in *715 giving little weight to the medical 'opinion of examining physician Dr. Montgomery. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review the district court’s order de novo, Molina v. Astrue, 674 F.3d 1104, 1110 (9th Cir. 2012), and we affirm.

The ALJ provided specific and legitimate reasons for giving very little weight to Dr. Montgomery’s contradicted opinion that Garcia could not use her upper left extremity. First, the ALJ reasonably found that Dr. Montgomery’s opinion was unsupported by his clinical findings showing that Garcia had some reduced range of motion, but not a complete inability to use her left arm in a work environment. See Bayliss v. Barnhart, 427 F.3d 1211, 1216 (9th Cir. 2005) (noting that when an ALJ is evaluating conflicting medical opinions, the ALJ need not accept a medical opinion that is inadequately supported by…