09
Jul 2009
July 9, 2009
Here are 10 arguments that can be used effectively when appealing the denial of a Social Security or Supplemental Security Income disability claim by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ):
- Failure to properly evaluate mental impairment(s). The ALJ may have erred in failing to evaluate the claimant’s mental impairment and resulting functional limitations as required by 20 C.F.R §404.1520a.
- Failure to address opinions of State agency non-examining medical consultants. The ALJ failed to comply with 20 C.F.R. §404.1527(f)(2) in ignoring the opinion of the State agency non-examining physician and in failing to provide any reasons for his obvious rejection of this evidence.
- Failure to address treating physician evidence. While the ALJ referenced the opinion of the treating physician, he/she failed to comply with 20 C.F.R. §404.1527 in not providing any reasons for his/her rejection of the treating physician’s opinion.
- Failure to address other medical opinions of record. The ALJ committed reversible error in failing to provide any reasons for his/her rejection of the of the opinion of Dr. XXX whose opinion conflicts with the ALJ’s residual functional capacity (RFC) finding.
- Failure to make a proper credibility finding. The ALJ committed reversible error in failing to comply with SSR-96-7p and 20 C.F.R. §404.1529 in failing to evaluate the claimant’s subjective complaints.
- Failure to properly assess the claimant’s RFC. The ALJ committed reversible error in failing to comply with SSR-96-8p in assessing the claimant’s RFC.
- Failing to properly consider the mental and physical demands of the claimant’s past work. The ALJ committed reversible error in failing to comply with SSR 82-62 in not discussing the specific mental and physical demands of the claimant’s past relevant work prior to summarily determining that he/she can return to that work.
- Failure to obtain vocational expert testimony. The ALJ committed reversible error in mechanically relying on the Medical-Vocational Guidelines and in failing to obtain vocational expert testimony.
- Failing to comply with the HALLEX procedures in soliciting post-hearing evidence. The ALJ failed to comply with the procedures set forth in HALLEX I-2-5-42 in failing to transmit the proposed interrogatories to the claimant prior to submission to the physician, or in failing to proffer the new evidence to the claimant.
- Mischaracterization or misstatement of the record in some significant degree.
Source: Winning Appeals Council Arguments, 4th Ed., by Sarah H. Bohr. (A great resource!)
Categories
- Affordable Care Act
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Arbitration
- Attorney Ethics
- Attorneys Fees
- Beneficiary Designations
- Blog Roundup and Highlights
- Blogs and Blogging
- Care Facilities
- Caregivers
- Cemetery
- Collaborative Family Law
- Conservatorships
- Consumer Fraud
- Contempt
- Contracts
- Defamation
- Developmental Disabilities
- Discovery
- Discrimination Laws
- Doctrine of Probable Intent
- Domestic Violence
- Elder Abuse
- Elder Law
- Elective Share
- End-of-Life Decisions
- Estate Administration
- Estate Litigation
- Estate Planning
- Events
- Family Law
- Fiduciary
- Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
- Funeral
- Future of the Legal Profession
- Geriatric Care Managers
- Governmental or Public Benefit Programs
- Guardianship
- Health Issues
- Housing for the Elderly and Disabled
- In Remembrance
- Insolvent Estates
- Institutional Liens
- Insurance
- Interesting New Cases
- Intestacy
- Law Firm News
- Law Firm Videos
- Law Practice Management / Development
- Lawyers and Lawyering
- Legal Capacity or Competancy
- Legal Malpractice
- Legal Rights of the Disabled
- Liens
- Litigation
- Mediation
- Medicaid Appeals
- Medicaid Applications
- Medicaid Planning
- Annuities
- Care Contracts
- Divorce
- Estate Recovery
- Family Part Non-Dissolution Support Orders
- Gifts
- Life Estates
- Loan repayments
- MMMNA
- Promissory Notes
- Qualified Income Trusts
- Spousal Refusal
- Transfers For Reasons Other Than To Qualify For Medicaid
- Transfers to "Caregiver" Child(ren)
- Transfers to Disabled Adult Children
- Trusts
- Undue Hardship Provision
- Multiple-Party Deposit Account Act
- New Cases
- New Laws
- News Briefs
- Newsletters
- Non-Probate Assets
- Nursing Facility Litigation
- Personal Achievements and Awards
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
- Probate
- Punitive Damages
- Reconsideration
- Retirement Benefits
- Reverse Mortgages
- Section 8 Housing
- Settlement of Litigation
- Social Media
- Special Education
- Special Needs Planning
- Surrogate Decision-Making
- Taxation
- Technology
- Texting
- Top Ten
- Trials
- Trustees
- Uncategorized
- Veterans Benefits
- Web Sites and the Internet
- Webinar
- Writing Intended To Be A Will
Vanarelli & Li, LLC on Social Media