Court Opinion

ID: 2963842
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:16:03.22326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:37:22.347529
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

        December 14, 1995       [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                           

                                 ____________________

        No. 95-1646 

                                     DAVIS VELEZ,

                                Plaintiff, Appellant,

                                          v.

                       SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,

                                 Defendant, Appellee.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

                  [Hon. Carmen Consuelo Cerezo, U.S. District Judge]
                                                ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Selya, Stahl and Lynch,
                                   Circuit Judges.
                                   ______________

                                 ____________________

            Raymond Rivera Esteves on brief for appellant.
            ______________________
            Guillermo  Gil,  United  States  Attorney, Maria  Hortensia  Rios,
            ______________                             ______________________
        Assistant United  States Attorney,  and  Nancy B.  Salafia,  Assistant
                                                 _________________
        Regional  Counsel,  Social  Security  Administration,  on  brief   for
        appellee.

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                 Per Curiam.  Davis  Velez appeals from a district  court
                 __________

            judgment affirming a decision of the  Secretary of Health and

            Human   Services  denying  Velez's   application  for  social

            security disability benefits.  We affirm.

                 Velez applied for social security benefits on  September

            10, 1992, alleging  that he  could not work  due to  "nerves,

            back, and ankle pain."  After a hearing, an Adminstrative Law

            Judge (ALJ) concluded  that Velez has a severe combination of

            impairments with a history of herniated nucleus pulposus  and

            depression and anxiety related disorders.  He also found that

            Velez is unable  to perform his past work.   However, the ALJ

            concluded that Velez has the residual functional capacity for

            light work,  exclusive  of  jobs  requiring  him  to  perform

            complex tasks or to have frequent contact with the public.

            Finally,  the ALJ  ruled that,  based on  the testimony  of a

            vocational expert (VE) and application of the Grid,  Velez is

            not disabled because  there are light, unskilled jobs that he

            can perform. 

                 Velez  does not  argue  on  appeal  that  he  lacks  the

            physical capacity for  light work.   Instead, he argues  that

            the ALJ  erred  in  his  findings  regarding  Velez's  mental

            capacity.    We  review  the  Secretary's  decision  under  a

            "substantial evidence" standard; we will affirm that decision

            if  it  is  supported  by   "`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)); see also  Rodriguez Pagan v.  Secretary of
                               ________  _______________     ____________

            Health &  Human Servs., 819  F.2d 1, 3  (1st Cir.  1987) (per
            ______________________

            curiam), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1012 (1988).  
                     ____________

                 The medical  record reveals that  Velez was seen  at the

            Mental Health Center in  Arecibo on July 28, 1992.   Although

            Velez appeared  anxious and  somewhat depressed, he  was also

            cooperative,  logical, and  coherent  with apparently  normal

            intellect.   He  was diagnosed  as suffering  from adjustment

            problems,   with   depressive   mood,   and   was  prescribed

            medication.

                 Between September  11, 1992 and January  22, 1993, Velez

            was  seen on  six occasions  at the  State Insurance  Fund in

            connection with  his mental condition.   On October  7, 1992,

            Dr.  Lopez  Cumpiano evaluated  Velez  and  diagnosed him  as

            suffering  from  anxiety  disorder  with  depressive  traits.

            Although  Dr. Lopez  noted  that Velez  reported episodes  of

            auditive and  visual hallucinations, he found  that Velez was

            in   contact   with   reality   and   presented   no  thought

            disturbances.   He  also  found  that  Velez  was  clear  and

            oriented,  with  fair   memory,  unimpaired  judgment,   fair

            insight, and  preserved intellectual ability.   The remaining

            records  from   the  State   Insurance  Fund  are   not  very

            informative, but Velez is consistently described as alert and

            oriented.  

                 On  November 10, 1992, Velez was  examined by Dr. Mojica

            Sandoz,  a consultant to the  Secretary.  Dr. Mojica observed

                                         -3-

            that  Velez  was markedly  anxious  and tense,  and  that his

            movements were somewhat slow.  However, Dr. Mojica found that

            Velez was accessible, cooperative, and frank, and that he did

            not show any difficulty  in establishing adequate and lasting

            interpersonal relationships.  He further found that Velez had

            adequate capacity  to pay  attention and to  concentrate, was

            oriented, functioned with an average intellectual makeup, and

            had  adequate  judgment  and   memory.    The  diagnosis  was

            moderate, generalized anxiety disorder.  

                 A  non-examining medical  consultant  to  the  Secretary

            reviewed  much   of  this  evidence  and   completed  both  a

            Psychiatric  Review Technique  form  and  a  Mental  Residual

            Functional  Capacity Assessment.    Although  the  consultant

            noted   some  moderate  limitations   on  various  capacities

            required  for  unskilled   work,  he   reached  the   general

            conclusion that  Velez is  capable of  functioning in a  non-

            demanding   work   environment--with   simple   instructions,

            routines, and  decisions--as long as Velez is not required to

            have  frequent  contact  with  the general  public.1    These

            latter limitations were reflected  in a hypothetical posed to

            the VE, who, in  turn, identified specific jobs in  the local

                                
            ____________________

            1.  A second  consultant, who apparently reviewed  all of the
            evidence,  agreed  with  the  first  consultant's conclusions
            without additional comment.

                                         -4-

            economy that Velez could  perform.2  Under the circumstances,

            we  think that there  is substantial evidence  to support the

            Secretary's  finding of no disability.  We add that since the

            ALJ  adopted the  consultant's general  conclusions regarding

            Velez's  mental  limitations,  any differences  in  the boxes

            checked  on the Psychiatric Review Technique  form by the ALJ

            and the consultant are of no consequence.  

                 Affirmed.
                 _________

                                
            ____________________

            2.  Velez suggests that the hypothetical posed to the  VE was
            incomplete since  it  did not  include  all of  the  moderate
            limitations noted by the consultant.  See Arocho v. Secretary
                                                  ___ ______    _________
            of  Health & Human Servs., 670  F.2d 374, 375 (1st Cir. 1982)
            _________________________
            (hypothetical    must     accurately    reflect    claimant's
            limitations).    This  argument  was  not  presented  to  the
            district  court, and we deem it waived.  See, e.g., Sandstrom
                                                     ___  ____  _________
            v. Chemlawn Corp., 904 F.2d  83, 87 (1st Cir. 1990).   In any
               ______________
            event, we  think  that the  consultant's  findings  regarding
            these  moderate  limitations  were subsumed  in  his  general
            conclusion,  and that  the hypothetical  accurately reflected
            this conclusion.  

                                         -5-