Washington Court Reverses ALJ

September 29, 2015. In this case, the ALJ denied benefits, in part, because he found the state agency examining psychologist’s opinions to be “too vague to be useful” when he considered the claimant to have mild and moderate limitations in terms of his activities of daily living, social functioning, and concentration, persistence and pace. The district court held that the ALJ should have contacted the psychologist to clarify his opinion before rejecting it. Additionally, the district court found it troubling that the ALJ viewed the terms “mild” and “moderate” to be vague, as they are regularly used in a social security context. It reversed and remanded for further proceedings.