First Circuit

List of links to the federal courts, including the First Ciruit Court of Appeals, and the federal District Courts within the First Circuit. Website of First Circuit Court of Appeals First Circuit Rulebook Fee schedule Website of United States District Court, District of…

Claimant filed concurrent applications for disablity benefits.  SSA allowed the SSI application at Reconsideration but denied the SSDI application due to a Date Last Insured (DLI) issue.  When the claimant appealed the SSDI denial, the ALJ reopened and revised SSI allowance…

Client with bipolar and other MIs.   DRB reviewed and upheld ALJ (Merrill).   Ct. relates adequate assessment of the evidence to the condition - bipolar - The particular features of the disease should guide the evaluation of the evidence.   ALJ has not adequately…

Borderline Intellectual Functioning , orthopedic. Remand was appropriate where the ALJ's hypothetical to VE did not include any limitations related to claimant's borderline intellectual (e.g., moderate limitations in concentration, persistence or pace, and in ability to remember and carry…

DRB reviewed and upheld ALJ decision (Step 4 denial may have been error but agreed with ALJ's alternative Step 5 denial finding).   Cervico-thoracic degenerative disease and myofascial pain.   ALJ analysis of treating source opinion was factually incorrect. ALJ's…

 SSA denied dual applications for SSI and SSDI benefits for a younger individual (at the time of the AOD) with HS education and PRW as a truck driver, logger, and laborer. After a video hearing ALJ Thomas Merrill denied both applications and held that the applicant retained an RFC for…

An 49 year old SSDI applicant alleged disability due to anxiety, depression with episodes of suicidal ideation, pain in his left knee and back. The record was replete with evidence of alcohol abuse that seemed to be in remission within the last two years from the date of the disability onset. The…

Index stops in 2003.

A younger individual with high school education and past relevant work as an exterminator, receptionist, school-bus driver, and a customer-service agent filed a an application for SSDI benefits alleging disability due to depression, serum negative rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headaches, and…