office #of judges hearing wait time average processing ave. disposition per day per judge Dismissal Cases Approved Cases Denied
Detroit 10 12.0 months 384 days 2.0 22% 39% 39%
Flint 5 11.0 months 359 days 1.9 13% 54% 33%
Grand Rapids 9 8.0 months 288 days 1.9 18% 37% 45%
Lansing 7 10.0 months 339 days 2.0 17% 45% 39%
Livonia Mi 10 11.5 months 390 days 2.1 19% 50% 31%
Mt Pleasant Mi 9 11.0 months 361 days 2.2 18% 47% 36%
Oak Park 13 10.0 months 354 days 1.8 16% 48% 36%
All michigan 10.5 months 353 days 2.0 18% 45% 37%
National Average: 11.4 months 382 days 1.8 20% 44% 37%

Difference Between a DDS Examiner and an Administrative Law Judge

What is the difference between a DDS Examiner and an Administrative Law Judge?

DDS examiners and Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) can both approve or deny a disability claim but they each deal with different stages of your request for disability benefits.

After you apply for disability benefits your case is sent to the Disability Determination Services (DDS). This is a state government agency. An examiner at the DDS will be assigned to your claim. This persons’ job is to look at your claim and decide if you are eligible for disability because you meet the Social Security Administrations definition of being disabled. The examiner bases his/her decision off of your paperwork and your medical records as well as the opinion of a medical or psychological consultant (who works for the DDS) to make an opinion about whether or not you qualify for benefits. The examiner does not meet with you in person. If the DDS examiner finds that you meet the criteria for disability then you will be approved for disability benefits. Should your case be denied, you can file a reconsideration appeal. Your case would then be sent back to the DDS, most often to a different examiner. Reconsideration appeals are denied more often than not.

If your original claim and your reconsideration appeal have been denied then this is where the Administrative Law Judge comes in. The ALJ works for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) which is a branch of the Social Security Administration. After both your original claim and your reconsideration appeal have been denied, you may request a hearing with an ALJ. This hearing will be a face to face meeting with a judge. The ALJ will listen to your testimony and possibly listen to testimony of expert witnesses in addition to considering your medical records. You can bring your most current medical records and an RFC form from your doctor.

The chances of you winning your claim from a hearing with an ALJ are greater than winning your original claim from a DDS examiner because the ALJ gets more of an in depth view of you and your medical records where the DDS examiner gets a less-personal overview of your case.

Medical and Vocational Expert Witnesses

Medical or Vocational Expert Witnesses are people who have been contracted by the Social Security office. The office keeps a panel of experts in both the medical and vocational fields that an Administrative Law Judge can choose to have at a hearing if he/she feels it will be helpful.

When you receive your hearing notice in the mail, it will state if a medical and/or vocational expert will be present at your hearing. It is the decision of the judge who will be presiding over your case if he/she wants an expert witness at the hearing.

Vocational experts are able to identify the skill and exertion required by a claimant’s previous job. They are at the hearing to state the skills that you have that can transfer to another position and what work is within your physical ability, educational, age and previous work experience. They may offer suggestions as to what other jobs you are capable of holding.

Medical experts are either physicians or psychologists and their responsibility at the hearing will be to interpret medical evidence, clear up any discrepancies in the evidence, state if medical findings are present which meet a published acceptable disability listing, and establish what your physical ability for further employment might be. The medical expert will review the medical records in your file and give his/her opinion as to whether or not you meet one of the listed disabilities. The judge may ask the witness for his/her opinion on your functional limitations from your medical condition.

Medical and Vocational expert witnesses tend to have strong opinions. They have been called to give impartial testimony on your case. However, some testify as if they are there to help benefits be denied or come in with their own personal biases. You should consider having an experienced social security lawyer present if you see that you will have either a medical or vocational expert witness present at your hearing.

Do I need a disability attorney at a hearing?

It is not required to have an attorney for your disability hearing. However, having an attorney will help to ensure that you are given a fair hearing. A lawyer will make sure that all the right questions are asked at the hearing. Your lawyer will also help to organize your case and make it the most presentable for the Administrative Law Judge. Your attorney will be familiar with the disability law, including which medical records are needed to prove your disability and will make sure that your physician(s) fill out these forms as well as gather any other valuable information regarding your case. Your attorney will know how best to show that you cannot return to your prior work and cannot perform work at a substantial gainful work level.

If you are represented by a social security disability attorney, you don’t need to bring anything to the hearing except yourself. A good disability representative will make sure that all of the documents needed to prove your claim are assembled in your file for the judge to review. The Administrative Law Judge decides cases based on what he/she sees in your file. This will include information that has been gathered by a disability examiner, which may not always be favorable to your case. You attorney is knowledgeable in how to counter any negative input that a disability examiner may have added.

Disability hearings typically last between 20 and 40 minutes. For the average person who has not been trained in disability law, this can be an intimidating time. Having a disability attorney represent you will allow you to be confident that your case will be presented as clearly and efficiently as possible.

These are the Michigan Workers Compensation Decisions from 2013. While the numbers are difficult to read and understand, the bottom line is that only 169 cases went to trial in the entire State of Michigan in 2013. Of those 169 trials only 20 resulted in an open award of benefits for the injured worker. In essence, 20 people were found to be disabled enough to receive on going medical coverage, and wage loss benefits, being paid in the past and into the future. Thats only an eleven percent chance of winning (11%) ongoing benefits, which is considered winning your case in workers comp court. When you couple that with an appellate commission that is finding 90% in favor of the insurance industry you can understand why only a handful of people in the entire state are receiving ongoing benefits. Unbelievable. Please write your representative complaining about how one sided the system is.

NAME
OPEN
CLOSED
DENIED
MISC
TOTAL
Average
1.00
1.15
3.05
3.25
8.45
Birch
0
0
0
0
0
Boyle
1
3
3
3
10
Buehler
1
0
4
5
10
Castora
1
1
3
3
8
Colombo
0
2
1
1
4
Grunewald
3
1
8
3
15
Klaeren
1
0
1
3
5
Kurtz
3
3
1
5
12
Logan
2
0
8
7
17
Mason
0
0
0
0
0
McAree
1
1
7
9
18
Moher
0
0
0
0
0
Ognisanti
1
1
9
3
14
Purcell
0
1
1
0
2
Rochau
1
0
0
0
1
Slater
2
1
6
4
13
Timmons
0
2
0
4
6
Tjapkes
3
5
7
7
22
Williams
0
0
1
5
6
W oons
0
2
1
3
6
TOTALS
20
23
61
65
169

2014 Social Security Disability update: Social Security initial filings are taking about 3-4 months according to our current records and appeals to get a hearing in front of an ALJ or admin. Law judge are taking about 10 to 12 months on average.

Unfortunately, the value of workers compensation settlements in Michigan have been declining given that only a hand full of people won their workers compensation cases in Michigan last year. Thats for the entire State of Michigan. Between the Law that the republicans and Snyder passed in November of 2011, the Judges appointed by Governor Snyder, and the Appellate Commission which is favoring the insurance companies and self insured companies about 90% of the time in their decisions, the injured worker is seeing the darkest days of workers compensation law in Michigan. However, with good medical records, and some job search (which is now required under Synder’s new law) our firm is still getting very reasonable settlements. If you have any questions, please call or email at no charge to you.

The attorney fee for a lump sum settlement when benefits are being paid is only 10 percent of the lump sum settlement. If benefits are terminated or cut off the attorney fee only goes up slightly to 15 percent of the first $25,000 and then is reduced to 10 percent of the balance over $25,000, for lump sum settlements.