Janet J. Yuckert v. Margaret M. Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant

The Secretary of Health and Human Services denied Janet Yuckert’s application for social security disability benefits on the ground that she did not suffer from a “severe impairment” within the meaning of 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520 (c) and 404.1521 (1985). The district court affirmed. Yuc-kert now challenges the validity of the severity regulation, 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 (c) (1985), as inconsistent with the Social Security Act. She argues that the regulation improperly permits the Secretary to find a claimant not disabled based solely on medical evidence, see id., whereas the statute requires the Secretary additionally to consider the claimant’s age, education, work experience, and ability to do her past work, see 42 U.S.C. § 423 (d)(2)(A). Yuckert alternatively contends that substantial evidence does not support the Secretary’s decision and that the Administrative Law Judge (AU) committed legal error by failing to give proper weight to the opinions of her treating physicians or to give proper reasons for rejecting their opinions and the testimony of her vocational rehabilitation counselor. We find the Secretary’s “severity” regulation invalid and reverse.

I

Background and Facts

In…