Child Meets Listing, Entitled to Reversal for Payment
November 16, 2009
Author: Catherine M. Callery (Kate)| Louise M. Tarantino
One of the hardest things to do in a Social Security case is to show that a claimant meets a Listing. But the feeling that an advocate gets when winning a case at this level is priceless. That same exhilaration extends to winning a case in federal court by convincing a judge that the claimant meets that golden Listing.
District Court Judge Thomas McAvoy provided that elation recently in the case of Cook o/b/o CC v. Astrue, 2009 WL 2601240 (N.D.N.Y. August 20, 2009), a child’s SSI case where he ordered the Commissioner’s decision reversed and remanded for payment of benefits because the child plaintiff met a Listing. At the hearing level, the ALJ did not provide specific reasoning for his determination that the plaintiff’s impairments did not meet Listing 102.08(A), a hearing impairment for children under the age of five. The Court found that this decision was not supported by substantial evidence and went on to discuss in detail the evidence that supported a finding of Listing level severity.
Once the Court determined that a Listing had been met, Judge McAvoy held that remand for further proceedings would serve no purpose, and ordered reversal for payment of benefits. Whoops of joy most certainly rang out from the office of Louise Tarantino of the Empire Justice Center, who represented the child plaintiff on appeal in this district court case.
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