Opinion
No. 10-2895.
Submitted: February 3, 2011.
Filed: February 8, 2011.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
John Wayne Kocourek, Council Bluffs, IA, for Appellant.
Jeremiah Hayes, Assistant Regional Counsel, Kristi Schmidt, Deputy, Social Security Administration Office of General Counsel Region VII, Kansas City, MO, Gary L. Hayward, U.S. Attorney's Office, Des Moines, IA, for Appellee.
Before BYE, ARNOLD, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
[UNPUBLISHED]
Donna M. Carter appeals the district court's order affirming the denial of disability insurance benefits. Upon careful review of the record, see Medhaug v. Astrue, 578 F.3d 805, 813 (8th Cir. 2009) (standard of review), we find that the administrative law judge's (ALJ's) credibility determination is entitled to deference because it was based on several valid reasons, see Finch v. Astrue, 547 F.3d 933, 935-36 (8th Cir. 2008); and that it was proper for the ALJ to decline to give weight to the vague, conclusory, and unsupported opinions of treating physician Charles Pigneri on Carter's residual functional capacity, see Brown v. Astrue, 611 F.3d 941, 952 (8th Cir. 2010). We reject Carter's assertion that the new evidence she offered in the district court justifies remand, see Jones v. Callahan, 122 F.3d 1148, 1154 (8th Cir. 1997); and we lack jurisdiction to consider the Commissioner's refusal to reopen, see Efinchuk v. Astrue, 480 F.3d 846, 848 (8th Cir. 2007). Accordingly, we affirm.
The Honorable Charles R. Wolle, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa.