Daniel C. Irick
How Judge Irick decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
RFC formulation under the post-2017 regs: an ALJ does NOT 'play doctor' or impermissibly substitute his own judgment by finding the medical opinions less than persuasive (on supportability/consistency) and then assessing the RFC from the record as a whole. There is no requirement that an RFC be based on any physician's opinion -- the RFC is a matter reserved to the ALJ. A claimant who argues only that the RFC fails because it doesn't track a specific doctor's opinion loses.
“an ALJ cannot substitute his judgment for that of the medical sources, but there is no requirement that an RFC must be based on a physician's opinion. ... it is the ALJ's responsibility to determine the ultimate issue of the Claimant's RFC, and not the physicians.”
Preservation / record development: a challenge to the ALJ's persuasiveness findings that is raised only perfunctorily, without supporting argument or authority, is deemed waived (McClain of Ga.); and the ALJ need not order a consultative exam, a testifying medical advisor, or interrogatories unless the claimant shows an evidentiary gap producing unfairness or 'clear prejudice' (Henry, Ellison).
“Issues raised in a perfunctory manner, without supporting arguments and citation to authorities, are generally deemed to be waived.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Social security appeal N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the stated reasons, it is ORDERED that: 1. The final decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED; and 2. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment for the Commissioner and close the case.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Caseload mix is descriptive, from search_dockets enumeration; no FJC IDB baseline available for this court/period. SS cases are initially assigned to a district judge + Irick as magistrate, then reassigned to Irick alone on 636(c) consent (e.g. Mayo reassigned from Judge Paul G. Byron).