Opinion ID: 3066184
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Law to Fact

Text: Garrison unquestionably satisfies all three conditions of the credit-as-true rule. First, there is no need to develop the record or convene further administrative proceedings.28 Although the Commissioner argues that further proceedings would serve the “useful purpose” of allowing the ALJ to revisit the medical opinions and testimony that she rejected for legally insufficient reasons, our precedent and the objectives of the credit-as-true rule foreclose the argument that a remand for the purpose of allowing the ALJ to have a mulligan qualifies as a remand for a “useful purpose” under the first part of credit-as-true analysis. See Benecke, 379 F.3d at 595 (“Allowing the Commissioner to decide the issue again would create an unfair ‘heads we win; tails, let’s play again’ system of disability benefits adjudication.”); Moisa, 367 F.3d 28 The Commissioner resists this conclusion, arguing that further proceedings are required because the ALJ did not make an RFC determination on the basis of Wang, Anderson, and General’s opinions. Without such an RFC determination, the Commissioner asserts, it would be impossible for us to determine whether Garrison is disabled. This argument is without merit. In no prior credit-as-true case have we suggested that an award of benefits is proper only if the ALJ made a formal RFC finding—and for good reason, because ALJs rarely base their RFC determinations on opinions or testimony that they have rejected (and it will always be such opinions or testimony that are at issue in credit-astrue cases). Instead, we have considered whether the VE answered a question describing a hypothetical person with the RFC that the claimant would possess were the relevant opinion or testimony taken as true. See, e.g., Lingenfelter, 504 F.3d at 1041; Varney II, 859 F.2d at 1401. Here, the ALJ and counsel posed questions to the VE that matched both Garrison’s testimony and the opinions of Wang, Anderson, and General, and in response the VE answered that a person with such an RFC would be unable to work. On that basis, we can conclude that Garrison is disabled without remanding for further proceedings to determine anew her RFC. GARRISON V. COLVIN 53 at 887 (“The Commissioner, having lost this appeal, should not have another opportunity to show that Moisa is not credible any more than Moisa, had he lost, should have an opportunity for remand and further proceedings to establish his credibility.” (citation omitted)). Second, as we have already explained at length, the ALJ failed to provide a legally sufficient reason to reject Garrison’s testimony and the opinions of her treating and examining medical caretakers. We need not repeat this analysis here. Third, if the improperly discredited evidence were credited as true, it is clear that the ALJ would be required to find Garrison disabled on remand.29 Our conclusion follows directly from our analysis of the ALJ’s errors and the strength of the improperly discredited evidence, which we credit as true: a treating doctor, a treating nurse practitioner, and an examining psychologist all deemed Garrison to be disabled, Garrison testified to an array of severe physical and mental impairments, and a VE explicitly testified that a person with the impairments described by Garrison or her medical caretakers could not work. Accordingly, Garrison satisfies the requirements of the credit-as-true standard. Having concluded that Garrison satisfies all three parts of credit-as-true analysis, we now turn to the question whether 29 At this stage of the credit-as-true analysis, we do not consider arguments against crediting evidence that the ALJ did not make. In other words, as we explained in Harman, we do not consider “whether the ALJ might have articulated a justification for rejecting [a medical] opinion.” 211 F.3d at 1179 (emphasis added). This aspect of the credit-as-true rule is grounded in the principles set forth in SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80, 87–88 (1943). 54 GARRISON V. COLVIN we should nonetheless exercise “flexibility” under Connett and remand for further proceedings. Here, the answer is clearly no. The Commissioner simply repeats all of the arguments she has already made, asserting that the evidence provided by the doctors and nurse practitioner who treated Garrison should not be given much weight and that Garrison’s testimony should not be accepted. As before, she dwells on the bare handful of records showing slight improvement in Garrison’s condition. At no point does she advance any argument against this evidence that we have not already carefully considered and rejected. Nor does she point to anything in the record that the ALJ overlooked and explain how that evidence casts into serious doubt Garrison’s claim to be disabled.30 We have independently reviewed the entire record and also have found nothing that would create doubt as to Garrison’s entitlement to the benefits she seeks.31 The record reflects that, since April 2007, Garrison has been afflicted with a number of severe impairments, including burning back pain that radiates into her legs, sharp neck pain that radiates into her shoulders and arms, intense anxiety and panic attacks, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and bouts of hallucinations, paranoia, and social phobia. Even if some of 30 For example, in urging us to remand for further proceedings, the Commissioner argues that the opinions of Wang, Anderson, and General should be given little weight because some of them are expressed in check-box form. The Commissioner also argues that some periods of improvement by Garrison while she was being treated call into question whether she was disabled. These arguments fail for the same reasons we have already explained in addressing the ALJ’s analysis, most notably that they are utterly belied by the record, inconsistent with our precedent, and contradicted by the opinions of every treating and examining physician. 31 Although we do so here, we do not mean to suggest that, in every credit-as-true case, courts must undertake an independent review of the entire record. GARRISON V. COLVIN 55 these symptoms have occasionally abated for brief periods of time—all while Garrison is in ongoing treatment and has significantly minimized environmental stressors—we, like her numerous medical caretakers, see no reason to doubt that she has been entirely incapable of work since April 2007.32 Thus, considering the Commissioner’s arguments and independently reviewing the record, we see no basis for serious doubt that Garrison is disabled. In sum, we conclude that Garrison satisfies all three conditions of the credit-as-true rule and that a careful review of the record discloses no reason to seriously doubt that she is, in fact, disabled. A remand for a calculation and award of benefits is therefore required under our credit-as-true precedents.