Court Opinion

ID: 9479990
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:34:50.180951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:24.944445
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The majority is correct in holding that the ALJ satisfied due process requirements by giving Coffin’s attorney two opportunities to object to or comment on the post-hearing interrogatories and the vocational expert’s responses thereto. Similarly, the attorney’s failure to respond to the ALJ’s letters constituted a waiver of Coffin’s right to cross-examine the vocational expert. My disagreement lies with the majority’s finding that the hypothetical question posed to the vocational expert was based on substantial evidence in the record.
Every mental health professional who examined Coffin expressed doubt that Coffin could function effectively in day-to-day work activity if he were subjected to anything more than minimal levels of stress. Moreover, personnel from the mental health center where Coffin was treated believed that the pressure of a job might cause his mental state to deteriorate to the level at which he previously had been hospitalized.1
Dr. Richard E. Phelps, a clinical psychologist who examined Coffin at the request of the Social Security Administration, diagnosed him as suffering from a schizophrenic disorder, paranoid type, in remission.2 Phelps noted that Coffin appeared in control of his thoughts and emotions, but theorized that this control was due to Coffin’s medication. Coffin’s Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profile was extremely elevated. Such a profile usually reflects a marked psychological disturbance with symptoms including an agitated depression with possible thought and perceptual disorders. Coffin’s results on the Zung Self-Administered Depression Scale were consistent with those of the MMPI. Coffin was on medication to control his mental disorder at the time he took both psychological tests. Despite Phelps’ report and other evidence in the record, the ALJ’s hypothetical failed to include any mention of Coffin’s mental disorder other than “the inability to concentrate at a level of greater than 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.”
Questions posed to a vocational expert should “precisely set out the claimant’s particular physical and mental impairments.” Ledoux v. Schweiker, 732 F.2d *12141385, 1388 (8th Cir.1984) (quoting Tennant v. Schweiker, 682 F.2d 707, 711 (8th Cir.1982)). The AU’s omission of Coffin’s mental disorder from the hypothetical interrogatory sent to the vocational expert rendered that question defective. This Court often has held that testimony elicited by hypothetical questions that do not relate with precision all of a claimant’s impairments cannot constitute substantial evidence to support the Secretary's decision. See, e.g., Douglas v. Bowen, 836 F.2d 392, 396 (8th Cir.1987); Bradley v. Bowen, 800 F.2d 760, 763 n. 2 (8th Cir.1986). The validity of the vocational expert’s conclusion that Coffin can work as a telephone solicitor or a hotel night clerk is questionable because it was based on an improper hypothetical.3 The resulting conclusion that Coffin is not disabled is similarly flawed.
The truly unfortunate aspect of the majority’s decision is that it appears from the record that Coffin no longer meets the insured status requirement for disability benefits. Thus, in the unlikely event that Coffin does secure other employment, but is unable to withstand the stress of a full-time job as the doctors have predicted, Coffin’s eligibility for disability benefits will have lapsed. Coffin will be relegated to applying for Supplemental Security Income benefits, which will give him substantially less money than would disability benefits.
It is regrettable that a claimant may be denied benefits because of his attorney’s inadvertence. I concur in the majority’s holding that the AU afforded Coffin due process in this case and that Coffin waived his right to cross-examine the vocational expert. Because I believe that the AU’s hypothetical to the vocational expert was not supported by substantial evidence, however, I dissent from the majority’s finding that the question was valid. Accordingly, we should reverse and remand with instructions that Coffin be awarded benefits as of December 21, 1984.

. The letter detailing the opinions of mental health personnel and social workers who had dealt with Coffin was not included in the administrative record until after the hearing and was not read by the vocational expert before she responded to the ALJ’s interrogatories.

. The Mental Health Institute of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, diagnosed Coffin as suffering from a schizoaffective disorder. Other medical evidence in the record describes Coffin as manic depressive, manic type, in remission, and as suffering from a bipolar disorder, manic, in remission.

. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles describes the duties of a telephone solicitor as follows:
Solicits orders for merchandise or services over telephone: Calls prospective customers to explain type of service or merchandise offered. Quotes prices and tries to persuade customer to buy, using prepared sales talk. Records names, addresses, purchases, and reactions of prospects solicited. Refers orders to other workers for filling.
U.S. Dep’t of Labor, Employment & Training Admin., Dictionary of Occupational Titles 221 (4th ed. 1977).
The same source describes a hotel clerk’s tasks as follows:
Performs any combination of following duties for guests of hotel, motel, motor lodge, or condominium-hotel: Registers and assigns rooms to guests. Issues room key and escort instructions to bellhop * * *. Date-stamps, sorts, and racks incoming mail and messages. Transmits and receives messages, using equipment, such as telegraph, telephone, Teletype, and switchboard. Answers inquiries pertaining to hotel services; registration of guests; and shopping, dining, entertainment, and travel directions. Keeps records of room availability and guests’ accounts. Computes bill, collects payment, and makes change for guests * * *. Makes and confirms reservations.
Id. at 193.
Coffin’s treating and consulting psychologists predicted that Coffin would manifest significant interpersonal difficulties and suspicion and distrust of others. They also estimated his capabilities as being limited to the performance of simple, repetitive tasks. Had the ALJ’s interrogatories related this information, the vocational expert might not have concluded that Coffin could perform jobs requiring so much interaction with others or such a variety of duties.