Rudy Rojas v. Commissioner of Social Security

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Rudy Rojas (“Rojas”) appeals the affirmance of the denial of Social Security disability benefits based on an administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) finding, at Step Five of the five-step disability analysis prescribed in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 , that Rojas retained sufficient residual functional capacity (“RFC”) to work. We review the district court’s decision de novo, and may set aside the denial of benefits if the ALJ’s findings were based on legal error or were not supported by substantial evidence. Schneider v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec. Admin., 223 F.3d 968, 973 (9th Cir.2000).

Rojas suffered from three severe medical impairments at the time of his administrative hearing, and the ALJ explicitly noted as much at Step Two. One of those impairments, a bone infection called osteo-myelitis in Rojas’s right foot, was not diagnosed until six months before the hearing and led to the amputation of a significant part of Rojas’s foot only a month before the hearing.

The only medical evidence supporting the conclusion that Rojas was capable of performing jobs available in significant numbers came in the form of opinions from government physicians issued before Rojas developed…