29 June

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South Carolina District Court Reverses ALJ

May 28, 2015. In this case, on referral from a national Social Security representative group, we successfully argued for the primacy of the treating source evidence, which was uncontradicted in the record (except for a very outdated nonexamining consultant’s assessment). Relatedly, the ALJ had failed to comply with long-standing Fourth Circuit precedent and with 404.1529’s requirements that the evaluation of pain is a two-step process. Finally, the court also agreed that the ALJ’s minimalist mental RFC finding for “simple routine repetitive tasks” did not adequately capture the complexity of the claimant’s mental impairments as described in the SSA consultative examiner’s...

26 June

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New York District Court Reverses ALJ

Posted by OBL Staff

in Case Summaries

May 21, 2015. In this case, on referral from a Texas law firm, we successfully argued essentially that the ALJ erred when he failed to find that the claimant had any mental limitations of his ability to work, even though SSA’s examiner and the underlying evidence was contrary to this finding. This error rippled into to other errors, which was the ALJ’s patently inadequate RFC finding, and his concomitant failure to take testimony from a vocational expert to satisfy his step 5 burden....

23 June

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Texas District Court Reverses ALJ

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in Case Summaries

May 19, 2015. In this case, on referral from a law firm in Texas, we successfully argued (with the government agreeing and moving for voluntary remand) that the ALJ erred first by failing to note that the claimant’s age category had changed shortly before his date last insured, a change which required an award of benefits pursuant to the Medical Vocational Guidelines applicable to claimant’s age 55+. With respect to the pre-55 period, the government at least facially agreed with our argument that the ALJ had failed to appropriately consider treating source evidence consistent with 404.1527 and the Fifth Circuit’s...

20 June

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Illinois District Court Reverses ALJ

Posted by OBL Staff

in Case Summaries

May 19, 2015. In this case, on referral from a national Social Security representative group, we successfully argued that the ALJ had failed to appropriately analyze medical opinion evidence and in particular had failed, given the very favorable vocational profile, to consider that claimant had a significant sit stand/option limitation, as identified by his treating sources as well as the agency’s physicians. The government moved for remand following the filing of our brief....

17 June

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New York District Court Reverses ALJ

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in Case Summaries

May 13, 2015. In this case, on referral from a national Social Security representative group, we successfully argued that the ALJ had failed to appropriately evaluate the medical opinion evidence of record, failed to consult a vocational expert prior to making his step 5 finding that the claimant could perform other work, and (at least arguably) failed to find that the claimant’s mental impairments were “severe”. The government moved for remand following the filing of our brief....

14 June

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Texas District Court Reverses ALJ

Posted by OBL Staff

in Case Summaries

May 12, 2015. In this case, on referral from a law firm in Texas, SSA moved for voluntary remand after our brief was filed. At issue primarily was the ALJ’s finding that the claimant had no “severe impairments”, even though the evidence supported a finding that the claimant had intractable migraine headaches related to a brain tumor (meningioma). An interesting (although tragic, in a way) feature of this case was the fact that the ALJs nonsevere impairment finding went on ad nauseum about the fact that a “hemangioma” (birthmark) could not possibly be disabling!...

11 June

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Claimant Awarded $180,000 following Federal Court Remand

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in Case Summaries

In this case, which I inherited after the claimant’s previous attorney discharged her, we successfully argued before a West Virginia district court that the ALJ had failed in numerous respects, including a failure to follow the agency’s protocol for evaluating pain cases (which, ironically, had its genesis to a great extent in several Fourth Circuit decisions in the 90s); failure to appropriately evaluate the opinion evidence which, in this case included several well-crafted treating source opinions, as well as two consultative examiners whose opinions generally supported the claimant’s claim. Because it seemed like every delay that could occur in a...

13 May

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Claimant Awarded $49,000 Following Remand

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in Case Summaries

April 12, 2015. This case was remanded by the Eastern District of Michigan District Court to reconsider the ALJ’s nonsevere migraine headache finding, and to provide a legally sufficient discussion of the claimant's longtime treating physician's assessment of her mental and physical disabilities. At the supplemental hearing the ALJ offered a fully favorable decision in exchange for an amended onset date to the claimant's 50th birthday (which claimant's previous representative had actually suggested in a prehearing memorandum prior to the initial hearing), and the ALJ ruled from the bench in her favor....

06 May

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Claimant Awarded $80,000 Following Remand.

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in Case Summaries

April 17, 2015. In this case, this Maryland claimant obtained a fully favorable decision from the ALJ following a remand in which we successfully argued that the ALJ had improperly rejected the retrospective opinion of a longtime treating source that the claimant's medical impairments predated the physicians actual treatment of the claimant, even though the claimant did not begin seeing the physician until after his date last insured. On remand the ALJ scheduled a medical expert to testify at the hearing, who confirmed that the claimant's muscular sclerosis is historically a difficult condition to diagnose (essentially, a "diagnosis of exclusion")...

04 May

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Texas District Court Reverses ALJ

Posted by OBL Staff

in Case Summaries

April 21, 2015. In this case, on referral from a Texas law firm, we successfully argued that the assessments of plaintiff's treating psychiatrist, SSA's consultative examiner, and the underlying record did not support the ALJ’s RFC finding which excluded any social functioning limitations. Specifically, the consistent opinions of both medical experts described her ability to function socially as "poor", or as "markedly limited", opinions which were expressly supported by repeated mention in the medical records of her extreme social anxiety with obvious physical manifestations of same, including frequent crying, shaking, nervous tics, etc. The court remanded, over SSA's objections, for...