Barnhart
State of Washington ex rel. Pierre v. Barnhart
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Miguel Pierre suffers from daily encopresis 1 , or fecal incontinence. An administrative law judge (ALJ) concluded Miguel was not disabled, and not entitled to Supplemental Security Income. The sole issue on appeal is whether Miguel’s condition amounts to a marked limitation in the area of personal functioning. We hold that it does.
As a prehminary matter, we note that the rules governing this appeal have changed since the ALJ issued his ruling. The ALJ decided this case under interim regulations promulgated by the Social Security Administration in 1997. We are obliged to apply these same rules in our review of the case. See 65 Fed.Reg. 54,-751 (September 11, 2000). Accordingly, citations to 20 C.F.R. § 416.924 and 20 C.F.R. § 416.926 throughout this memorandum are understood to reference the 1997 interim rules which are no longer in effect.
The issue before the ALJ was whether Miguel suffered from two marked limitations in several broad areas such as cognition/communication, motor skills, social, personal development, and concentration, persistence, or pace, and therefore had an impairment functionally equivalent in severity to a listed impairment. 20 C.F.R. §§…