Case ID: f-appx_88/html/0998-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
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Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Terri L. FERGUSON, Plaintiff—Appellant, v. Jo Anne B. BARNHART, Commissioner of Social Security Administration, Defendant—Appellee.
    No. 02-36126.
    D.C. No. CV-01-00122-GF-SEH.
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    Submitted March 4, 2004.
    
    Decided March 8, 2004.
    John E. Seidlitz, Seidlitz Law Office, Great Falls, MT, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
    George F. Darragh, Jr., Office of the U.S. Attorney, Great Falls, MT, for Defendant-Appellee.
    Before O’SCANNLAIN, RYMER, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.
    
      
       This panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).
    
   MEMORANDUM

Terri L. Ferguson appeals the Commissioner’s denial of her claim for disability insurance and supplemental security income benefits pursuant to the Social Security Act. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 423(a)(1)(D), 1383. The Administrative Law Judge found that, considering Ferguson’s age, education, work experience, and residual functional capacity, she was able to perform unskilled, sedentary work, and therefore was not disabled. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1505(a), 416.905(a).

In assessing Ferguson’s residual functional capacity, the ALJ did not err in rejecting Ferguson’s testimony about the intensity of her pain and other limitations where Ferguson gave false and inconsistent accounts of her injuries. See Thomas v. Barnhart, 278 F.3d 947, 958-59 (9th Cir.2002). Because Ferguson’s treating physician heavily relied upon Ferguson’s own subjective reports to evaluate Ferguson, the ALJ did not err in refusing to defer to the treating physician’s opinion of Ferguson’s ability to work. See Magallanes v. Bowen, 881 F.2d 747, 751 (9th Cir.1989).

Substantial evidence supports the judge’s decision, and the judge made no reversible errors of law. See Morgan v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 169 F.3d 595, 599 (9th Cir.1999).

AFFIRMED. 
      
       This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.