Jim ERICKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donna SHALALA, Defendant-Appellee

Jim Erickson appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The district court affirmed the Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) denial of Erickson’s application for disability benefits. The ALJ’s denial was based upon a finding that Erickson was capable of performing light work. We reverse and remand for the payments of disability benefits.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff-appellant Jim Erickson is a 34-year-old husband and father of three children. He has a high-school education and was a carpenter for 12 years. During that time, he also manufactured mobile homes, worked as a handyman, painted, hung drywall, and worked as a cement laborer.

In December 1988, Erickson was hospitalized after a three-month history of chronic coughing, rapid weight loss, and increased symptoms of shortness of breath. He was diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis, “a debilitating pulmonary disease.” Pulmonary sarcoidosis involves the thickening of the lung tissues, which stiffens the lungs and makes it more difficult to transfer oxygen into the lungs. Its exact cause is unknown, and only one-third of patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis ever improve…