"Iffy" Case Succeeds
March 1, 2008
Author: Catherine M. Callery (Kate)| Louise M. Tarantino
As the case summaries reported on these pages usually demonstrate, it is the extra digging by advocates before the hearing that can turn an “iffy” case into a winner. Paul Ryther, private practitioner and well-known denizen of the DAP listserv, reports just such a victory.
Paul’s client was a younger individual with past relevant work as a security system monitor. (Apparently there really are some of those jobs out there; they are not just a figment of our favorite vocational experts’ imaginations.) She had, however, earned under the substantial gainful activity threshold. She was quite limited by her multiple sclerosis and irritable bowel syndrome - serious problems that are often hard to translate into successful disability claims due in part to their intermittent nature.
Paul managed to get documentation from the claimant’s employer, describing the limitations of her particular job and the problems she had performing it. At the hearing, the VE testified to various jobs that she could perform. Based on this new evidence, however, Paul managed to fashion a hypothetical question that produced no jobs. The result? A fully favorable decision for the claimant!
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