Pennsylvania District Court Reverses ALJ

March 19, 2015. In this case, one of our own, we argued successfully that the ALJ did not fulfill his duty to an unrepresented claimant (obviously, this claimant came to us after the ALJ denied her) to assist her in the presentation of her case. Specifically, although the waiver of representation appeared to be adequate, there was at best confusion about the fact that it was acknowledged at the hearing that claimant’s treating medical sources had not provided up-to-date information; it was possible from the record alone to assume that the ALJ had promised to obtain these records but, in any event, the fact that that was not clear was a violation of the duty in and of itself. As we do in any unrepresented claimant appeal that we can, we had demonstrated in a second argument that the claimant had significant limitations of her ability to work even based on the limited record that the ALJ had before him.