Baxter

MEMORANDUM **

Franklin Baxter appeals from the judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s final decision to deny his application for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. The Social Security regulations establish a five-step inquiry to determine whether a claimant is entitled to benefits, 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 (a), and Baxter contests the administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) findings at Steps Four and Five. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we *675 reverse and remand for further proceedings.

At Step Four, the ALJ is required to determine the claimant’s residual functional capacity (“RFC”). Ryan v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 528 F.3d 1194, 1199 (9th Cir. 2008). Where a treating physician’s RFC assessment is uncontradicted by the opinion of another physician, the ALJ must provide clear and convincing reasons for rejecting the treating physician’s opinion. Id. at 1198 ; see Carmickle v. Comm’r Soc. Sec. Admin., 533 F.3d 1155, 1160 (9th Cir. 2008). Here, the ALJ rejected the Medical Source Statement (“MSS”) of Baxter’s treating physician, Dr. Eliason, because he found that the statement was unsupported by the medical…

concurring:

I concur in the result remanding this case because, and only because, the Administrative Law Judge gave no weight to the medical source statement prepared by the claimant’s treating physician. See Holohan v. Massanari, 246 F.3d 1195, 1202 (9th Cir.2001) (holding that generally the “treating physician’s medical opinion ... must be weighted”) (citations omitted).