WHY THE DISABLED WEEP


WHY THE DISABLED WEEP!

There's a story in May 12 edition of the Virginia Lawyers' Weekly that is enough to make the disabled of the land weep.  It's about an administrative law judge who denies 79 percent of the disability cases that come before him.  And last year he issued more than 1,100 decisions.  Of the few  awards he did make, only 6 percent of them were fully favorable (meaning that he granted all the back pay provided by law).


I have appeared before ALJs who seemed to only be interested in finding a way to deny a claim.  They had little time to hear about the claimant's disability or suffering and little time to discuss evidence.  Fortunately, most of the administrative law judges that I work with are not so one-sided.  Most of them try to be fair while examining the merits of the claim, which is their job.


But heaven help the disabled persons who appear before the judge who is the subject of this article. I fear that because of the poor economy, budget cuts and media castigating Social Security as a big government giveaway program, more judges are being pressured to save money by denying claims.  This garners much respect for the judges who won't be swayed by those pressures and continue to make fair, independent decisions based strictly on the merits of the claim before them.


 If you want to read the article from Virginia Lawyer's Weekly I have included a link below.


ALJ denies 79 percent of disability cases and gives only 6 percent fully favorable decisions to disabled claimants

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