Wakefield

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiff-Appellant Michael L. Wakefield appeals the district court’s summary judgment affirming the Social Security Administrations’s denial of his application for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 401-434 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse and remand for a calculation of benefits. We review de novo a district court’s order upholding the Commissioner’s denial of benefits. Reddick v. Chater, 157 F.3d 715, 720 (9th Cir.1998).

Wakefield argues that the ALJ erred by rejecting the medical opinion of Dr. Hamel, a treating physician, because his reasons for doing so were not sufficiently specific and legitimate and were not supported by substantial evidence in the record. See Rollins v. Massanari, 261 F.3d 853, 856 (9th Cir.2001) (“The ALJ may not reject the opinion of a treating physician, even if it is contradicted by the opinions of other doctors, without providing ‘specific and legitimate reasons’ supported by substantial evidence in the record.”). We agree.

First, the ALJ stated that he assigned little weight to Dr. Hamel’s opinions because he “did not begin to…