Appreciation post: The rep at my SSA hearing who actually listened

After my first appeal got denied, I had a hearing last month in Portland with a new judge. She stopped the vocational expert mid-sentence because she realized they were using an outdated job market report. Has anyone else had a judge actually question the evidence instead of just rubber stamping things?

3 comments

3 Comments

calebc402d ago

Had something similar happen at my hearing in Denver last year. My judge actually looked up the vocational expert's source material on her laptop during the hearing and found it was from 2017 not 2023 like they claimed. She straight up said "this is not reliable data" and threw out their entire testimony. It was wild. The SSA lawyer looked totally caught off guard. So yeah there are definitely judges out there who do their homework. Got approved about 3 months after that hearing.

hugos462d ago

@calebc40 did your judge make that call on the spot or did she already have doubts going in?

jamie8042d ago

@calebc40 had a very similar thing happen with me in Seattle. My judge asked the vocational expert what year their labor market data was from, and when they said 2019, she said that's not good enough and moved on. Got approved about two months later. Having a judge who actually questions the evidence makes a huge difference.