Case Study 7
Claimant: Female, 52 years old.
Occupation: My client previously worked as the accounting manager for a plate glass installation contractor, and a staff accountant for two other companies
Education: B.A. Degree
Hearing info: Claimant applied for benefits in October 2005, alleging an onset date of October 2003. The hearing was held in September 2008 at the North Atlanta ODAR.
Background: My client is a high achieving, detail oriented female whose symptoms began to express themselves following both physical and emotional trauma. From a physical standpoint, she underwent surgery in the mid-1980’s to repair a congenital abnormality in her jaw. The surgery was unsuccessful which resulted in subsequent surgeries, leaving her with an asymmetrical facial appearance and permanent numbness on the right side of her face. Emotionally, the claimant was the primary caretaker for a parent with Alzheimers.
During the last few months of her parent’s life, my client began to experience a great deal of fatigue, myofascial and muscle pain, as well as memory loss and cognitive decline. When she resigned from her job, her employer refused to pay her last payroll check based on the claim that she was “not mentally present at work.”
Analysis: The judge, who is well known to me, is very polite and pleasant and studies exhibit files carefully. The exhibit file in this case was provided to me on CD; however, I noticed that none of the exhibits were numbered or organized. This is because my office submitted a request for an expedited hearing based on “dire need” since my client’s house was in foreclosure. The judge later explained to me that the exhibit file was not organized because of the “dire need” case (they did not have time to do a proper work-up).
I prepared a pre-hearing brief setting out my arguments and hand-delivered the brief along with updated records to the hearing office. However, the new evidence and brief were lost by the hearing office staff (typical!). Fortunately, I had an extra copy which I gave the judge prior to the hearing. I was unable to spare my client from the stress of having to appear in person, despite a good faith effort.
My client’s pain management physician and her primary care physician prepared helpful functional capacity forms, so the written record was consistent and thorough. I figured the judge would be receptive to our fibromyalgia-based disability argument.
The judge had already reviewed the record, so his questions were more to confirm the record than anything. It was clear to me that he saw my client as a credible witness. He turned to the vocational expert (VE) witness and asked the following question:
Q: Mr. VE, assume we have an individual limited to sedentary work, who needs a job with a sit/stand option that would allow for a change of position every 15 minutes. The hypothetical individual has a poor ability to maintain attention and concentration and a poor capacity for maintaining persistence and pace in a work setting. This person has a fair capacity to deal with work stress. Could this hypothetical person perform the claimant’s past work?
A: No
Could this hypothetical person perform any other work?
A: No
The judge asked if I had any questions, which I didn’t, then told us that since this was a “dire need” case, he would issue a bench decision – which is a form where the judge hand writes his findings. He excused us for about 10 minutes. He came back and read the favorable bench decision. I think the factors that were most important for my client included:
- solid work history
- regular visits to the doctor
- complete support with RFC forms from two treating doctors