UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

PATRICIA CAMPBELL,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

No. 97-2128

KENNETH S. APFEL, COMMISSIONER OF

SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Salisbury.

Paul Trevor Sharp, Magistrate Judge.

(CA-96-351-4)

Submitted: November 17, 1998

Decided: December 31, 1998

Before MURNAGHAN, ERVIN, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

H. Russell Vick, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant. Frank

W. Hunger, Assistant Attorney General, Walter C. Holton, Jr., United

States Attorney, Mary Ann Sloan, Chief Counsel, Region IV, Haila

Naomi Kleinman, Acting Branch Chief, Cheryl Nikonovich-Kahn,

Assistant Regional Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, SOCIAL

SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Patricia Campbell appeals the magistrate judge's judgment order

affirming the Commissioner's final decision denying her claim for a

period of disability and disability insurance benefits. On appeal,

Campbell alleges that the magistrate judge erred in failing to properly

evaluate the Commissioner's finding that Campbell is not disabled at

step five of the sequential evaluation process under the applicable regulations and social security rulings. Finding no error, we affirm.

Patricia Campbell has a tenth grade education and vocational experience as a machine operator, inspector of paper products, and sewing

machine operator. She applied for a period of disability and disability

insurance benefits in January 1993, claiming disability beginning

mid-August 1991. She alleged that she became unable to work in

1991 due to pain in her hands. After conducting a hearing on September 8, 1994, the ALJ issued a decision denying benefits based on a

finding that there was work in the national economy that Campbell

could perform. Campbell was twenty-seven years old at the time of

the hearing. Campbell requested review of the ALJ's decision by the

Appeals Council. The Appeals Council denied Campbell's request for

review. The ALJ's decision then became the Commissioner's final

decision.

Campbell filed a complaint in the district court challenging the

final decision of the Commissioner. Both parties filed cross motions

for summary judgment. By order entered on June 20, 1997, a magistrate judge granted the Commissioner summary judgment and

affirmed the decision of the Commissioner. This appeal followed.

We review the Commissioner's final decision to determine whether

it is supported by substantial evidence and whether the correct law

was applied. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g) (West Supp. 1998); Hays v.

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Sullivan, 907 F.2d 1453, 1456 (4th Cir. 1990). Substantial evidence

is "`such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.'" Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389,

401 (1971) (quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197,

229 (1938)). We do not re-weigh conflicting evidence, make credibility determinations, or substitute our judgment for that of the Commissioner. See Hays, 907 F.2d at 1456. It is the duty of the ALJ, not the

courts, to make findings of fact and to resolve conflicts in the evidence. See id.

The record discloses that Campbell was physically able to work

until 1991, at which time her hand pain became disabling. Her doctors

diagnosed her as suffering from arthritis and an"unstable" thumb

joint of the right hand. She underwent three surgeries on her right

hand, but has experienced no post-operative complications. She has

reported similar problems with the left hand. She wears flexible

braces on both hands for approximately two hours a day. Although

she experiences pain early in the morning and has difficulty writing,

she is able to lift objects weighing up to five pounds if she uses both

hands. She is able to perform light household tasks for brief periods

of time. She is also able to go horseback riding once a month, engages

in "normal" social activities, and drives a car.

Because Campbell established non-exertional limitations which

significantly interfere with her ability to perform her past relevant

work or work encompassed within the Medical-Vocational Guidelines

(the "Grids"), the ALJ found the use of a vocational specialist necessary to satisfy the Commissioner's burden of going forward with the

evidence. James Burge, the vocational expert, testified that Campbell's past work was "unskilled" and was performed at a "light" exertional level. Burge was asked whether a significant number of jobs

existed for a person who has a residual functional capacity for "sedentary" work, with additional non-exertional limitations which preclude

jobs requiring lifting objects with one hand. Burge testified that a significant number of jobs existed in the specified area for a person with

such a profile.

In reaching his decision, the ALJ applied the sequential five step

analysis found at 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 (1998). Under this process,

the ALJ considers sequentially whether Campbell: (1) is currently

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engaged in substantial gainful activity; (2) if not, whether she has a

severe impairment; (3) if so, whether that impairment meets or equals

medical criteria warranting a finding of disability without considering

vocational factors; (4) if not, whether the impairment prevents her

from performing her past relevant work; and (5) if so, the burden

shifts to the Commissioner to determine whether she can perform

other work. See Hall v. Harris, 658 F.2d 260, 264-65 (4th Cir. 1981).

If an individual is found not disabled at any step, the inquiry ends.

At step one, the ALJ first found that Campbell has not engaged in

substantial gainful activity since 1989. The ALJ further found, at step

two, that medical evidence shows that Campbell is severely impaired

by arthritic hand pain. The ALJ, however, concluded at step three that

the evidence did not demonstrate that Campbell suffered from any

impairment, or combination of impairments, which meets or equals

the level of severity specified in any of the Listed Impairments set

forth in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1525. At the fourth step, the ALJ, finding

that Campbell's testimony was not fully credible, concluded that

Campbell has the residual functional capacity to perform sedentary

level work which does not require her to lift objects with one hand,

but that she cannot perform her past relevant work. At the fifth step,

the ALJ concluded that given Campbell's age, education, work experience, and residual functional capacity for "sedentary" work in conjunction with Rule 201.24 of the Grids and the vocational expert

testimony, Campbell is not disabled within the meaning of the Social

Security Act. It is the ALJ's resolution of this fifth step that is the

crux of this appeal.

The Grids categorize a claimant's exertional limitations, age, education, and past work experience to determine disability. See 20

C.F.R. pt. 404, subpt. P, app. 2. (1995). The ALJ applied Grid

§ 201.24, which categorizes Campbell as a young individual, having

a limited or less education but at least literate and able to communicate in English, and with previous unskilled or no work experience.

Application of this Grid directs a finding of no disability in Campbell's case. If a claimant's impairments fall within the exertional categories of the Grids, and there are no further restrictions on those

exertional categories by non-exertional factors, the Commissioner's

burden is met under the Grids. See Gory v. Schweiker, 712 F.2d 929,

930 (4th Cir. 1983). Because Campbell suffered from both exertional

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and non-exertional limitations, however, the ALJ used the Grids as

merely a guideline and also considered the testimony of a vocational

expert. See Walker v. Bowen, 889 F.2d 47, 49 (4th Cir. 1989). After

due consideration of all of the factors, the ALJ concluded that Campbell was not disabled.

Campbell argues that the ALJ misapplied the Grids in determining

that she is not disabled, by ignoring 20 C.F.R. pt. 404, subpt. P, app.

2, § 201.00(h), which she claims requires a finding that she is disabled. Specifically, she posits that her situation is so analogous to the

example set forth in Section 201.00(h), the Grids direct a finding of

disability.

The rule against application of the Grids to individuals who suffer

from non-exertional limitations significantly restricting the range of

available work is reflected in the Commissioner's regulations explaining proper application of the Grids. This is the case with regard to

Grid rule 201.24. The rule is qualified by footnote 4, which references

20 C.F.R. pt. 404, subpt. P, app. 2 § 201.00(h).

Section 201.00(h) explains the term "younger individual" as used

in the Grids, and gives examples as to how the Commissioner might

or might not accord weight to a claimant's age in determining

whether work exists that the claimant could perform. We do not agree

with Campbell that § 201.00(h) requires a finding of disabled for an

individual, like Campbell, who has demonstrated the inability to perform the full range of sedentary work. Section 201.00(h), on which

Campbell relies, reads in relevant part:

[A] finding of disabled is not precluded for those individuals

under age 45 who do not meet all of the criteria of a specific

rule and who do not have the ability to perform a full range

of sedentary work. The following examples are illustrative:

Example 1: An individual under age 45 with a high school

education can no longer do past work and is restricted to

unskilled sedentary jobs because of a severe medically

determinable cardiovascular impairment (which does not

meet or equal the listings in appendix 1). A permanent

injury of the right hand limits the individual to sedentary

jobs which do not require bilateral manual dexterity. None

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of the rules in appendix 2 are applicable to this particular set

of facts, because this individual cannot perform the full

range of work defined as sedentary. Since the inability to

perform jobs requiring bilateral manual dexterity significantly compromises the only range of work for which the

individual is otherwise qualified (i.e., sedentary), a finding

of disabled would be appropriate.

Section 20l.00(h) essentially states that the Grids may not be used

to preclude a finding of disabled when a significant non-exertional

impairment exists. Campbell asserts that the example directs a finding

of disabled whenever a claimant's case presents analogous facts. She

argues that the ALJ's factual findings in this case are so similar to

those contained in the example as to require a finding of disability.

We disagree.

First, we note that Campbell does not have all of the impairments

described in the example. Second, the example is intended merely to

illustrate the limited applicability of the Grids and to remove the mandatory directive of the Grid rule wherever it is not appropriate. The

plain meaning of the text is simply that an ALJ is"not precluded"

from finding disabled those individuals who would fit within rule

201.24 but for their inability to perform the full range of sedentary

work. The example is just an illustration of a situation in which an

ALJ's decision to award benefits would be appropriate, despite the

Grids' contrary directive. We do not agree that any claimant who may

present a factually analogous situation to the example should automatically be considered disabled. See Abbott v. Sullivan, 905 F.2d

918, 927 (6th Cir. 1990); Mitchell v. Chater, 918 F. Supp. 675, 683

(W.D.N.Y. 1995). Because non-exertional impairments vary, the differing degrees of losses and their effects on the occupational base can

best be analyzed by a vocational expert. See Heggarty v. Sullivan, 947

F.2d 990, 996 (1st Cir. 1991). For this reason, the Grids can only be

used as a framework where there are non-exertional limitations.

We conclude that substantial evidence, based on Campbell's age,

education, and vocational skills in conjunction with the vocational

expert's testimony and the Grids, supports the ALJ's determination

that Campbell is not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of relief. We dispense with

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oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

presented in the materials before the court and argument would not

aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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