Court Opinion

ID: 9497929
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:03:55.894047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:30.680463
License: Public Domain

SILER, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because I think under the highly deferential arbitrary and capricious standard, the district court did not err in upholding the denial of benefits.
Certainly, as the majority observes, Dr. Feagin was on Unum’s payroll, so that fact must be considered. Nevertheless, he is a qualified board-certified internist physician who concluded that Dr. Watson’s opinions were “rather unorthodox” because Dr. Watson opined that Moon would have higher blood pressure in the sitting position than in the supine position. Dr. Feag-in also decided that Moon could work based upon Dr. O’Brien’s blood pressure tests revealing that Moon’s pressure was higher in the supine position and Dr. O’Brien’s observation that “with proper and effective antihypertensive medication, I suspect her blood pressure is indeed controllable and should not alone be considered disabling.” Dr. Feagin further found that Moon had no “evidence of significant hypertensive end organ damage.” He admitted Moon could not perform medium to heavy work, but he concluded she could do sedentary or light work.
As Black & Decker Disability Plan v. Nord, 538 U.S. 822, 829-33, 123 S.Ct. 1965, 155 L.Ed.2d 1034 (2003), holds that the opinion of the treating physician is not to be given deference over that of other physicians, I would find that the decision not to award long-term benefits by Unum was not arbitrary and capricious, because it was based on Dr. Feagin’s conclusions. Were we to view the matter under a de novo standard, I might very well decide otherwise.