## Facts

- Joseph Mejia applied for Disability Insurance Benefits and Supplemental Security Income, alleging disability beginning October 16, 2007.
- Mejia asserted disability primarily due to congestive heart failure and hypertension, with ongoing shortness of breath and fatigue.
- The administrative law judge (ALJ) found Mejia had severe impairments (chronic heart failure and hypertension).
- The ALJ determined Mejia’s impairments did not meet or medically equal the chronic heart failure Listing in the Listing of Impairments.
- The record lacked objective measurements required by the heart-failure Listing (including evidence of systolic/diastolic dysfunction with left-ventricular damage at Listing-level severity) and lacked a qualifying pattern of repeated hospitalizations for exacerbations.
- The ALJ found Mejia retained residual functional capacity (RFC) sufficient to perform work existing in significant numbers in the national economy.
- The Commissioner’s denial became final, and Mejia sought judicial review under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s determination that Mejia’s heart failure and hypertension did not meet or medically equal a listed impairment at step three.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s RFC finding and the conclusion that Mejia could perform work available in the national economy.
3. Whether the Commissioner applied the correct legal standards on judicial review under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

## Decision

- The court affirmed the Commissioner’s final decision denying benefits.
- The court held that the ALJ’s step-three Listing determination was supported by substantial evidence.
- The court held that the ALJ’s RFC assessment and resulting non-disability determination were supported by substantial evidence and applied the proper legal standards.

## Legal Principles

- On review under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), a court upholds the Commissioner’s decision if the correct legal standards were applied and the decision is supported by substantial evidence.
- A claimant bears the burden at step three to show an impairment meets or medically equals all specified criteria of a Listing, or its medical equivalent, through appropriate medical evidence.
- Symptoms associated with heart failure, without the objective findings required by the Listing or qualifying alternative medical evidence, do not establish Listing-level severity.
- Courts do not reweigh evidence; conflicts in the medical record and credibility-related assessments are primarily for the ALJ when supported by substantial evidence.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the denial of disability benefits because the record did not establish Listing-level chronic heart failure and substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s RFC and step-five findings that Mejia could perform work in the national economy.


Mejia v. Astrue, 719 F. Supp. 2d 328 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)