Ana Maria Aguilar v. Commissioner of Social Security

I.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff applied for DIB and SSI and alleged disability beginning April 14, 2014. See Dkt. 22, Administrative Record (“AR”) 234-41. After her claim was denied initially and on reconsideration, Plaintiff requested and received a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). See AR 59-83. Plaintiff was not represented at the hearing. See AR 61. On October 30, 2017, the ALJ issued a written decision. See AR 40-51. The ALJ determined that Plaintiff had the severe impairments of history of right foot surgery; dysfunction of the major joints; disorder of muscle, ligament, and fascia in the right knee and right shoulder; and disorder of the lumbar and cervical spine. See AR 42-43. The ALJ found that Plaintiff’s affective disorder did not cause more than minimal limitation in her ability to perform basic mental work activities and was therefore non-severe. See AR 43- 45. The ALJ concluded that Plaintiff did not have an impairment or combination of impairments that met or medically equaled one of the listed impairments. See AR 45-46. The ALJ then determined that Plaintiff’s residual functional capacity (“RFC”) limited her to light work with certain additional…