Donathan
Donathan v. Astrue
Opinion
lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM ***
George Donathan appeals the district court’s decision upholding the Social Security Administration Commissioner’s denial of Donathan’s application for disability insurance benefits. We affirm the district court. The parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, so we do not repeat it here.
This court reviews the district court’s order affirming the administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) denial of social security benefits de novo. Orn v. Astrue, 495 F.3d 625, 630 (9th Cir.2007) (citing Burch v. Barnhart, 400 F.3d 676, 679 (9th Cir. 2005)). The court will disturb the denial of benefits only if the decision “contains legal error or is not supported by substantial evidence.” Id. (citing Stout v. Comm’r, Soc. Sec. Admin., 454 F.3d 1050, 1052 (9th Cir.2006)).
We find that the ALJ provided clear and convincing reasons for rejecting Donathan’s subjective allegations regarding his impairments, symptoms, and limitations based on his questionable credibility. See Smolen v. Chater, 80 F.3d 1273, 1281 (9th Cir.1996) (where a claimant produces objective evidence of a condition 1 and there is no evidence of malingering, “the ALJ can reject the…
dissent Opinion
Graber, J.
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
At step two of the sequential evaluation process, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found that Claimant’s fibromyalgia constitutes a “severe” impairment. At the same time, however, and somewhat inconsistently, at step four the ALJ rejected the opinions of Dr. Rice and Dr. Hudson, two of Claimant’s treating physicians, concerning the extent of Claimant’s resulting limitations. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1502 (defining “treating” sources); Magallanes v. Bowen, 881 F.2d 747, 751 (9th Cir.1989) (describing a treating physician as one “employed to cure” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
To reject a treating physician’s opinion, an ALJ must provide “specific and legitimate” reasons, and a treating physician’s medical opinion is entitled to deference and some weight even if it is inconsistent with other substantial evidence in the record. Holohan v. Massanari, 246 F.3d 1195, 1202-03 (9th Cir.2001) (internal quotation marks omitted). The ALJ provided specific reasons here, but those reasons are not “legitimate” as a matter of law, and the ALJ failed to accord the treating physicians’ opinions the weight that our precedent demands.