Thomas H. v. Commissioner of Social Security

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey reviewed the denial of Thomas H.’s application for adult Childhood Disability Benefits based on osteogenesis imperfecta. The court vacated the Administrative Law Judge’s decision and remanded for further proceedings because the ALJ failed to adequately address evidence concerning the claimant’s condition before age 22 and did not sufficiently explain the treatment of his statements. The court declined to order medical-expert testimony but recommended that the ALJ consider soliciting such testimony on remand.

Holdings

1. The ALJ's conclusion that the record contained no evidence concerning Plaintiff's osteogenesis imperfecta before age twenty-two was irreconcilable with the record and was not supported by substantial evidence.
2. The ALJ failed to explain adequately why Plaintiff's statements concerning the intensity, persistence, and limiting effects of his symptoms before age twenty-two were inconsistent with the evidence.
3. The court declined to require the ALJ to obtain orthopedic medical-expert testimony, although it recommended that the ALJ consider soliciting such testimony if the Social Security Administration may have lost records concerning Plaintiff's pre-age-twenty-two disability.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the ALJ's step-two finding that Plaintiff's osteogenesis imperfecta was nonsevere before age twenty-two was supported by substantial evidence.
2. Whether the ALJ adequately considered and explained its treatment of evidence concerning Plaintiff's condition and symptoms before age twenty-two.
3. Whether the court should order the ALJ to obtain testimony from an orthopedic medical expert on remand.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded