Kathy Elaine Pons v. Commissioner of Social Security, 21-13028

Kathy Pons applied for Social Security disability insurance benefits, alleging onset June 24, 2011; her last insured date was December 31, 2011, so she had to prove disability during that ~6‑month window.
An ALJ initially denied benefits; the district court reversed and remanded for redetermination of residual functional capacity; on remand Pons submitted records from Dr. Linda Kay Fox.
Dr. Fox began treating Pons in 2015 and completed a "Fibromyalgia Medical Opinion" questionnaire in June 2019; the questionnaire relied in part on earlier records from Dr. Hulon Crayton and indicated contact dating back to 2011.
The ALJ’s September 2019 decision again denied benefits but did not discuss or weigh Dr. Fox’s opinion or state good cause for rejecting it; the Appeals Council denied review and the district court affirmed, finding any error harmless.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed, holding that even if the ALJ erred by failing to address Dr. Fox’s opinion, the error was harmless because the opinion was formed after the insured period, added no new evidence, and was inconsistent with the contemporaneous records and Pons’s statements.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the ALJ erred by failing to weigh Dr. Fox’s medical opinion or state good cause for rejecting it	Pons: Dr. Fox’s opinion was relevant to 2011 because Dr. Fox relied on earlier records (Dr. Crayton) and so should have been treated as a treating-source opinion	Commissioner: Dr. Fox did not treat Pons during the relevant period; her 2019 opinion is effectively a records review and thus not entitled to treating‑physician deference	Even assuming error, the court treated any failure to address Dr. Fox’s opinion as harmless because the record shows why the opinion would be rejected
Whether the ALJ’s error (if any) required remand	Pons: Dr. Fox’s limitations, if credited, would preclude competitive work (per the vocational expert), so error was not harmless	Commissioner: The opinion was formed years after the period at issue, added no new evidence beyond Dr. Crayton’s records, and was inconsistent with other medical notes and Pons’s own statements	Harmless error — Dr. Fox’s opinion was formed post‑period, duplicated existing record material, and conflicted with contemporaneous records, so remand would be futile

Simon v. Comm’r, Soc. Sec. Admin., 7 F.4th 1094 (11th Cir. 2021) (treating-physician weight principles and requirement to give substantial or considerable weight absent good cause)
Crawford v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 363 F.3d 1155 (11th Cir. 2004) (definition of substantial evidence standard)
Lewis v. Callahan, 125 F.3d 1436 (11th Cir. 1997) (requirement that ALJ state good cause to discount treating physician and that failure is reversible error)
Winschel v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 631 F.3d 1176 (11th Cir. 2011) (ALJ must state with particularity the weight given to medical opinions and reasons)
Phillips v. Barnhart, 357 F.3d 1232 (11th Cir. 2004) (examples of good-cause bases for discounting a treating physician’s opinion)
Diorio v. Heckler, 721 F.2d 726 (11th Cir. 1983) (application of harmless-error rule in Social Security appeals)
Ware v. Schweiker, 651 F.2d 408 (5th Cir. Unit A July 1981) (remand need not be ordered where it would be a wasteful corrective exercise)
Moore v. Barnhart, 405 F.3d 1208 (11th Cir. 2005) (critical date for DIB claims is the last insured date)