Daniel Creter v. Commissioner of Social Security

*Honorable Jane A. Restani, Chief Judge of the United States Court of
International Trade, sitting by designation.
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
______
No. 06-4373
______
DANIEL CRETER,
Appellant
v.
COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,
Appellee
Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of New Jersey
(D.C. No. 00-CV-05443 )
District Judge: Honorable Garrett E. Brown, Jr.
Argued December 11, 2007
Before: SLOVITER, AMBRO, Circuit Judges, and RESTANI *, Judge
Filed: December 28, 2007
Abraham S. Alter (Argued)
Langton & Alter
2096 St. Georges Avenue
Rahway, NJ 07065
Attorney for Appellant

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Andreea L. Lechleitner (Argued)
Social Security Administration
Office of General Counsel - Region II
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
Attorney for Appellee
OPINION
RESTANI, Judge.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the
District of New Jersey denying Appellant Daniel Creter’s appeal to that court from a final
decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (“Commissioner”).
The Commissioner determined that Creter was not eligible for Social Security disability
insurance benefits.
Creter received disability benefits following a motorcycle accident in 1991. The
benefits were terminated in 1995 based on medical improvement. We conclude that the
Commissioner sustained her burden of demonstrating that Creter’s medical condition had
improved. Further, the Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) determination that there
were significant jobs available in the national and regional economy that Creter could
perform was based on substantial evidence.
There is considerable medical evidence in the record and it seems clear that
Creter’s injured leg finally knitted after surgery, although the ALJ accepted that Creter
continued to have some pain and serious problems relating to fractures in his

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non-dominant hand. Accordingly, the ALJ found Creter to have an impairment or
combination of impairments rated as severe. Nonetheless, based on objective and
substantial evidence, the ALJ rejected Creter’s claim of total medical disability due to
pain and attendant inability to concentrate, and instead found that Creter was limited to
sedentary work that does not require more than occasional fine or gross manipulation of
his non-dominant hand.
There was no dispute before the ALJ that Creter could not return to his former
work as a fork lift operator. It was also undisputed that he was not a high school
graduate, and that he had no computer training. Thus, the question remaining was
whether there was any job in the national or regional economy that Creter could perform.
Based on the testimony of a vocational expert, the ALJ concluded that such a job existed,
i.e., that of surveillance system monitor. Given the substantially supported findings of the
ALJ as to Creter’s medical condition and level of disability, the hypotheticals utilized by
the ALJ in questioning the vocational expert were not improper. We also conclude the
vocational expert was sufficiently qualified to render an opinion about the availability of
the job of surveillance system monitor.
We will affirm the judgment of the District Court.

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