Application for disability benefits

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Debbie Stage v. Carolyn Colvin

Case No: 15-1837

Officials: FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Application for disability benefits

Appellant application for disability insurance benefits denied. ALJ erred by failing to consider contrary evidence and to evaluate appellant claims properly.

“Finally, we agree with Stage that the ALJ failed to evaluate her claims of pain properly and relied on improper grounds in making his adverse credibility determination. In addition to the problems already noted, the ALJ also erred by basing his adverse credibility determination on two grounds that we have repeatedly held improper: (1) Stage’s decision not to undergo invasive and expensive surgery, without inquiring into her reasons for doing so, and (2) her ability to care for herself and her grandchildren. See Bjornson v. Astrue, 671 F.3d 640, 647 (7th Cir. 2012) (stating that failure to recognize differences between activities in daily living and a full‐time job “is a recurrent, and deplorable, feature” of ALJs’ opinions”); Gentle v. Barnhart, 430 F.3d 865, 867 (7th Cir. 2005) (remanding where ALJ found claimant’s spinal disk disease‐related pain allegations not credible based on her ability to care for self and children); Beardsley, 758 F.3d at 838 (finding that claimant’s limited ability to care for her mother “lend[s] no support to the conclusion that she would be able to spend six hours a day, every day, on her feet working,” and rejecting adverse inference drawn from claimant’s decision not to undergo surgery, absent exploration of the reason). In doing so, the ALJ overlooked testimony that Stage performed only very limited tasks—with great difficulty—and that her teenage grandchildren and her sister helped her with most tasks of daily living, so that her ability to cope with those tasks at home offered little support for her ability to handle competitive full‐time work at a “light” level of exertion.”

Vacated and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.