Horn & Kelley, P.C., Attorneys at Law, national leaders in social security disability and benefits law, won a district court remand Oct. 10, 2013, for a claimant with depression, foot problems, diabetes, fatigue, and insomnia, in Echols v. Colvin, 12 C 9797.  The Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) ignored the opinion of the treating physician that claimant was disabled, submitted by fax after the hearing but before the decision.  The District Court rejected as meaningless the Commissioner’s argument that the ALJ did not have to consider the opinion because he omitted it from the list of exhibits, and the District Court rejected as impossible the Commissioner’s argument that claimant mistakenly submitted the opinion by fax to a number that was in fact not a fax number.  The matter was remanded because of the ALJ’s failure to consider relevant evidence in the record.  Call Horn & Kelley at 888-921-5297 for a free evaluation of your claim.  Horn & Kelley represent individuals at all levels of their social security disability claims.

You have at least a 10% better chance of winning your social security disability claim with a fighting law firm like Horn & Kelley than with a law firm that will not fight.  How can you find the fighters?  Look up the February edition of the Forum of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives.  That’s where last year’s important cases are published.  That’s where the fighting law firms appear, in Available Materials.  Horn & Kelley had more cases published there than any other lawyers in the country last year.  Call Horn & Kelley at 888-921-5297 or 877-614-8861 today for a free evaluation of your claim.

Horn & Kelley, Attorneys at Law, national leaders in Social Security Disability law, won another Appeals Council remand September 9, 2013.  The Administrative Law Judge who denied the claim made a mistake about claimant’s height which had significant implications in the assessment of the effects of claimant’s obesity.  The Administrative Law Judge also failed to evaluate the opinion of the consultative examining physician that claimant has some difficulty in prolonged sitting as well as standing, walking, lifting, and carrying due to chronic back pain and obesity.   The claim was remanded for a new hearing.

Horn & Kelley, national leaders in Social Security Disability law, won another remand for an Illinois client Aug. 29, 2013, because the Administrative Law Judge improperly denied their client’s request for a supplemental hearing.  Post-hearing medical interrogatories from a medical expert were proffered to claimant; Horn & Kelley objected to the medical expert’s opinions and requested a supplemental hearing; the unfavorable hearing decision by the ALJ implicitly denied Horn & Kelley’s request for a supplemental hearing; HALLEX I-2-7-30 (H) provides that in these circumstances if a claimant requests a supplemental hearing, the ALJ must grant the request; therefore the denial of Horn & Kelley’s request for a supplemental hearing was an error or law.

Horn & Kelley, national leaders in Social Security Disability law, won another United States District Court case Aug. 28, 2013, in Koppers v. Colvin, 12 C 3993.  The case was reversed and remanded to the Social Security Administration for another hearing.  The Administrative Law Judge’s improper rejection of several pieces of evidence favorable to Plaintiff based on the Administrative Law Judge’s illogical or erroneous statements, and the failure to address other favorable evidence, fatally undermined the Administrative Law Judge’s credibility analysis in her decision against Plaintiff.  The Administrative Law Judge erroneously failed to explain adequately her reasoning for nor giving controlling or great weight to the opinion of Plaintiff’s treating physician.  In determining Plaintiff’s residual functional capacity, the Administrative Law Judge improperly played doctor by using her own lay opinions to fill evidentiary gaps in the record.

Follow Horn & Kelley on twitter!

Horn & Kelley, national leaders in social security disability law, won an Appeals Council remand Aug. 13, 2013.  Claimant’s alleged past relevant work was done as part of a composite job.  A claimant can be found capable of performing a composite job as actually performed only when she can perform all parts of the job.  The vocational expert testified the claimant’s residual functional capacity would allow for performance of one part of the job, but not the other.  Because the composite job does not have a counterpart in the dictionary of Occupational Titles, it is not to be evaluated when considering the claimant’s ability to do the job as generally performed in the national economy.  Claimant may not have past relevant work as defined by SSR 82-62.  Call Horn & Kelley at 877-614-8861 or 888-921-5297.

Will the attorney you hire be the representative who goes to the Social Security Disability hearing with you?  Or will you sign on with an experienced attorney who passes you off to a paralegal or an inexperienced lawyer to represent you at your hearing?  When you hire Horn & Kelley, you get John Horn with 37 years of experience as an attorney or Elizabeth Kelley with 34 years of experience as an attorney, to go to your hearing with you.  Call Horn & Kelley at 877-614-8861 or 888-921-5297.

Horn & Kelley represent claimants in Social Security Disability proceedings at all levels, from application through reconsideration, ALJ hearing, Appeals Council review, U.S. District Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, and U.S. Supreme Court.  We represent claimants primarily in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana but have also represented claimants in Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Last year Horn & Kelley had more cases published in the Forum of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (where last year’s important social security disability cases are published) than any other lawyers in the country.

If you need help with a social security disability claim, please do not hesitate to call 888-921-5297 or 877-614-8861.  Unlike altogether too many others in this field, we do not routinely bail out on clients after an unfavorable ALJ decision.  Similarly, our clients are accompanied at ALJ hearings by attorneys with more than 30 years of experience each–clients are not passed off at this critical stage to recent law school graduates or paralegals.

On May 3, 2013, Horn & Kelley, PC, national leaders in Social Security Disability Law, prevailed upon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to remand for an award of benefits in Hamilton v. Colvin, 12-3085.  The mandate issued on July 15, 2013.  Neither the medical nor non-medical evidence in the record supported the administrative law judge (“ALJ”)’s finding that Plaintiff-Appellant exaggerated her limitations.  The ALJ’s credibility finding was improper because the ALJ misrepresented the Plaintiff-Appellant’s testimony as inconsistent.  Plaintiff-Appellant did not contradict herself.