Don ChewningDatabase of Administrative Law Judge statistics
Posted by Don Chewning on January 7, 2009
Recently the Portland Oregonian used a Freedom of Information Act request to get access to statistics on the productivity, approval and denial rates of the ALJs who hear Social Security disability cases nationwide. It has published a searchable database online at its website. This has caused quite a buzz among the Social Security disability bar.
I caution claimants not to read too much into the statistics without consulting an attorney. A particular judge’s tendencies as reflected by the statistics is not a reliable gauge of how he or she will rule in a particular case. Each disability case rises and falls on its own merit. In my opinion, the quality of the medical evidence and the preparedness of the claimant and counsel can be more important than the judge assigned to the case. Just because a case has been assigned to a judge with a high denial rate does not mean a claim is doomed. Nor should a claimant whose case is assigned to a judge with a high percentage of favorable decisions be overly optimistic.
New ALJ database published by Delaware newspaper « Wisconsin Disability Blog said
[...] the statistics for denials and approvals of claims by Social Security Administrative Law Judges published by the Portland Oregonian. Recently, The News Journal, a Delaware newspaper, has run a feature on the lack of uniformity in [...]