Stepp v. Colvin

Record contained sufficient evidence to support ALJ’s denial of claimant’s application for Social Security disability insurance benefits arising out of claimant's degenerative disc disease, where certain physicians noted claimant’s alleged improvement in her back condition after undergoing surgery and medication, and where ALJ provided legitimate reasons for favoring certain pieces of evidence over others. However, claimant was entitled to remand for consideration of “new and material” evidence from physician that was submitted on day of ALJ decision, which supported claimant’s contention that back condition did not, in fact, improve, where: (1) Appeal Council’s order and denial notice never specifically mentioned said evidence so as to indicate that Counsel had viewed said evidence as “new and material;” and (2) said evidence was in fact new and material, where it bore on main ALJ conclusion that claimant’s condition had improved to point where claimant could perform sedentary work.