Atlanta Social Security Disability Claims

Why are Atlanta Social Security Disability
Claims Subject to Such Long Delays?

As a Social Security disability attorney based in Atlanta, most of the cases I handle are scheduled for hearing at either the downtown Atlanta ODAR located in the Peachtree Center office complex or the North Atlanta ODAR located on Clairmont Road.  As you may or may not be aware, the two Atlanta hearing offices have the unwelcome distinction of subjecting Atlanta area claimants to some of the longest delays in the entire country.

Claimants with cases scheduled for downtown Atlanta may wait over two years to get a hearing, while claimants scheduled for the Clairmont Road hearing office may wait up to three years for a hearing.

Obviously these long delays are unacceptable to all parties - claimants, their attorneys, the judges and staff of the hearing offices and the senior administrators within the Social Security Administration.

Beginning in late 2008 and continuing through 2009 and 2010, Social Security has made a noticeable effort to speed up the processing of cases in the Atlanta region.  Steps taken include:

  • introducing a national video hearing center based in Falls Church, Virginia and using judges from the National Hearing Center to hear Atlanta area cases
     
  • opening a third, video-only hearing office in Marietta
     
  • opening a new hearing office in Carrollton, Georgia

 
  • hiring new judges for the downtown Atlanta ODAR and requiring judges downtown to hear a minimum number of cases per week
     
  • introducing a “bench decision” procedure nationally whereby judges can produce a streamlined favorable decision and thereby avoid delays in getting extensive written decisions published
     
  • moving to a paperless file system
     
  • moving several thousand older files from North Atlanta to downtown Atlanta, and removing Columbus cases from the downtown ODAR judges

    • These steps have made a difference.  In my practice, I am trying twice as many cases in 2010 as I did in 2008.  Some of the oldest cases are being flagged for expedited hearings and I know that the local Social Security judges are working diligently to reduce the backlog.

    The changes in the Atlanta and North Atlanta hearing office are beginning to make a difference, although the new reality in the Atlanta hearing offices puts additional burden on claimants’ attorneys to prepare our cases quickly and thoroughly and to present our cases with utmost efficiency to the judges. Because I am based in Atlanta I can offer my clients extensive knowledge about the likes and dislikes of the judges working in our local hearing offices and about the procedures and local customs of the Atlanta and North Atlanta hearing offices.

    If you have filed a Social Security disability claim in Atlanta and have been turned down or are waiting for a decision, I would be happy to discuss your claim with you at no charge.  Please feel free to call me at 770-393-4985 or fill out the above form and my paralegal or I will get back with you quickly.

     
     
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