Mari Malloy v. Carolyn Colvin

MEMORANDUM

Mari Malloy appeals the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of her application for disability benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and affirm.

1. The administrative law judge (ALJ) denied Malloy’s request for a consultative evaluation and found Malloy not disabled. The ALJ found that Malloy did not have a severe mental health impairment and determined Malloy’s residual functional capacity (RFC) to be such, that she could perform light work without concentrated exposure to heights or hazards. The ALJ found Malloy to be not credible, and gave minimal weight to lay witness testimony of Malloy’s husband, sister, daughter, and friend. The ALJ relied on a vocational expert’s testimony that there were jobs in the national economy that one could perform with the described RFC, as well as an RFC of sedentary work limited to occasional posturing and no use of ladders, rope, or scaffolding, and avoiding concentrated exposure to heights or hazards.

2. Malloy argues that the ALJ had to provide a consultative psychological evaluation. “[T]he ALJ has a special duty to fully and…