Lori Ann Fager v. Social Security Administration

Denver, Colorado, social security disability lawyer represented the applicant for Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") benefits.



Ms. Fager has a bachelor's degree in anthropology and past relevant work as a legal secretary and housekeeper. She filed her SSI application in June 2017 with an alleged disability-onset date of Janu ary 11, 2017, at age 42. She claimed that a back injury, anxiety, and obesity limited her ability to work. After the agency denied her application initially, an administrative law judge ("ALJ”) denied benefits, but the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration ("SSA”) remanded for further proceedings. The ALJ again denied benefits. The Appeals Council denied review, but the district court granted the Commissioner's unopposed motion to reverse and remand for further proceedings.



The ALJ followed the five-step sequential evaluation process used to

review disability claims. See Fischer-Ross v. Barnhart, 431 F.3d 729, 731 (10th Cir.

2005) (explaining five-step process). At step one, the ALJ found Ms. Fager was not

engaged in any substantial gainful activity. At steps two and three, the ALJ found

Ms. Fager has multiple severe impairments—obesity, degenerative disc disease of the

cervical and lumbar spine, plantar calcaneal spur on the left ankle, moderate

obstructive lung disease, chronic pain syndrome, depression, and anxiety—but none

of her impairments, alone or in combination, met or medically equaled the severity of

one of the impairments listed as disabling in the Commissioner's regulations. The

ALJ then found that although Ms. Fager's impairments could reasonably be expected

to cause some of her alleged symptoms, her testimony about the intensity,

persistence, and limiting effects of those symptoms was not entirely consistent with

the record evidence.



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At step four, the ALJ found that with this RFC, Ms. Fager could not perform

her past work as a receptionist, but at step five the ALJ found she could perform

other jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national economy. The ALJ

consulted a vocational expert ("VE”) who identified several representative

occupations a hypothetical individual with Ms. Fager's RFC could perform: final

assembler, addresser, and touch up screener. The ALJ found Ms. Fager not disabled

within the meaning of the Social Security Act and denied SSI benefits.

Affirmed