Mora v. Commissioner of Social Security

Summary

The document is findings and recommendations by a magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Araceli Mora’s challenge to the denial of her Social Security disability insurance benefits. It recommends denying Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and affirming the Commissioner’s decision, concluding that the ALJ adequately evaluated Plaintiff’s symptom testimony and identified work available in the national economy.

Holdings

1. The ALJ provided clear and convincing reasons for discounting Mora's testimony concerning the intensity, persistence, and limiting effects of her mental symptoms, and those reasons were supported by substantial evidence.
2. There was no apparent or obvious conflict between the identified occupations and the RFC limitation requiring work dealing mainly with things rather than people; therefore, the ALJ had no duty to inquire further under SSR 00-4p.
3. Under the regulations applicable to Mora's claim, the ALJ was not required to consider her inability to communicate in English as an educational limitation or include English-language limitations in the vocational hypothetical.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the ALJ provided legally sufficient clear and convincing reasons, supported by substantial evidence, for discounting Mora's subjective testimony about her mental symptoms.
2. Whether the ALJ failed to identify and resolve an apparent conflict between the vocational expert's testimony and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles concerning the RFC limitation that work involve tasks dealing mainly with things rather than people.
3. Whether the ALJ was required to account for Mora's inability to speak, read, or write English in the step-five vocational analysis under the regulations applicable to her claim.

Disposition

other