Georgia Social Security
Disability Claims

Recent Hearing Decisions

If you want to improve your chances at winning your Social Security case, you need to know what you are trying to prove. Below, I have published several recent hearing decisions from clients with a number of mental and physical health conditions. To protect my clients’ privacy, I have blocked out their names and Social Security numbers. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read these decisions to clarify in your own mind how Judges approach these cases. If you have a clear picture in your mind of what you are trying to prove, your chances of success will improve greatly. These hearing decisions are in Adobe pdf format. Just click on the “read the decision link” and the file will open. Your computer most likely has an Adobe reader built in, but if not, you can get a free reader by clicking on the Adobe link.

Favorable Decision - 50 year old female with 10th grade education and past work as a deli clerk, day care cook and waitress. Her disability impairments arise from back pain and knee pain. Read the decision

Favorable Decision - 42 year old male with a 10th grade education and past work as a truck driver, fork lift operator and sand blaster. His disability impairments arise from back pain (degenerative disc disease, herniated disc at L5/S1), a bone infection in his shoulder and hip, and breathing difficulties. In this decision, the Judge stated that he would not accept the State Agency (i.e., the Social Security reviewing doctor’s) non-restrictive conclusions and instead, the Judge relied on the claimant’s own doctor. Read the decision.

Favorable Decision - 55 year old male with 11th grade education (but who cannot read or write) and past work as a construction laborer. His disability impairments include heart disease, high blood pressure, borderline diabetes and anxiety. In this case, I obtained a fuctional capacity evalution from one of the treating doctors and the Judge accepted this evidence (see page 7 of the decision) as “controlling weight” evidence. Read the decision.

Partially Favorable Decision - 40 year old female with a 12th grade education and past work as a cashier and stock clerk. Her disability impairments arise from anxiety and panic disorders. In this case, the claimant alleged that her disability began in December, 1999. However, her Social Security earnings record showed that she had been working through mid-2000. Thus, the Judge changed her onset date to July 1, 2000 - this is why the decision was “partially” favorable.  What is also interesting about this case is that the Judge did not find the claimant believeable or credible (see page 6 of the decision). However, the evidence from the various phychologists who evaluated the claimant were convincing.  Read the decision.

Favorable Decision - 36 year old male with a high school education and past work as a computer operator. His disability impairments arise from seizure disorder and depression.  Prior to the hearing, I asked my client’s treating doctor for a functional capacity form that set forth the expected frequency of his seizures. The doctor stated that the claimant was likely to have migraine headaches or seizures at least twice a week.  My argument, therefore, was that my client could not sustain competitive employment if he would miss 2 or more days a week because of severe headaches or seizures. Read the decision

Favorable Decision - 51 year old female with 1 year of college and past work as a box office cashier, telephone company service operator, and sales clerk. Her disability impairments include bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, arthritis in the knees, asthma and gastrointestinal reflux. The Judge had a physician testify as a medical expert in this case. The medical expert testified suggested that the claimant’s fibromyalgia diagnosis was a mental health problem. The Judge determined that the claimant’s mental health problems were very severe and he accepted her testimony that she could not concentrate or deal with stress. Although the Judge does not say so in this decision, the medical expert witness did not testify that the claimant was disabled - in fact, he testified that the medical evidence showed her condition to be non-disabling. The Judge chose to discount this testimony in favor of the functional capacity evaluation I submitted and the claimant’s testimony, which he found to be very credible. Thus, this claimant won despite unfavorable testimony by a physician expert witness. This decision also shows why it is so important to have a clear statement of vocational capacity from a treating physician. Read the decision.

Favorable Decision - 38 year old female with 2 years of college and past work as a sales person, photographer, clerk, etc. Her disability impairments arise from fibromyalgia. This was a very complicated case that involved medical records from over 40 physicians. At the hearing the Judge called both a medical doctor as a medical expert and a vocational witness. Prior to the hearing, I had optained functional capacity evaluations from three of the claimant’s physicians. These reports clearly demonstrated that the claimant’s condition was worsening and that she would not be able to sustain competitive employment. The claimant was a very credible witness and the medical expert agreed with the conclusions of the treating physicians.  Read the decision.

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