James Robert Klindt
How Judge Klindt decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Procedural fairness for pro se Social Security claimants: an invalid waiver of the right to counsel at the hearing, combined with the ALJ's heightened duty to fully develop the record for an unrepresented claimant, is itself grounds to reverse and remand -- independent of the medical merits.
“Plaintiff's waiver of his right to be represented during the hearings was invalid, and ... the ALJ did not meet his duty to fully develop the record in light of Plaintiff's pro se status.”
Substantial-evidence deference: where the ALJ articulates good-cause reasons supported by the record for discounting treating-source opinions, or properly finds an impairment 'not severe', the court will affirm; a claimant who reargues the weight of that evidence is improperly asking the court to reweigh it.
“Because the ALJ articulated reasons supported by substantial evidence showing good cause on a sufficiently developed record for discounting the opinions of the treating physicians, the decision of the ALJ will be affirmed.”
Vocational-expert hypotheticals: a hypothetical posed to the VE need only include the impairments the ALJ properly found 'severe'; an impairment correctly found non-severe is properly excluded, and its omission is not error.
“Because the ALJ appropriately found that Plaintiff's alleged mental impairment is not 'severe,' he properly excluded the impairment from the hypothetical posed to the vocational expert.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff's waiver of his right to be represented during the hearings was invalid, and ... the ALJ did not meet his duty to fully develop the record in light of Plaintiff's pro se status. Accordingly, the Commissioner's decision will be reversed and remanded.”
“Because the ALJ appropriately found that Plaintiff's alleged mental impairment is not 'severe,' he properly excluded the impairment from the hypothetical posed to the vocational expert. Accordingly, the Commissioner's decision will be AFFIRMED.”
“Because the ALJ articulated reasons supported by substantial evidence showing good cause on a sufficiently developed record for discounting the opinions of the treating physicians, the decision of the ALJ will be affirmed.”
“The undersigned concludes that the ALJ's finding regarding Plaintiff's mental impairment is supported by substantial evidence in the record, as is the ALJ's assessment of Plaintiff's RFC. Accordingly, the Commissioner's decision will be AFFIRMED.”
“the undersigned concludes that the ALJ properly weighed the medical opinions of Plaintiff's treating physicians; the ALJ properly determined Plaintiff's residual functional capacity; and the ALJ correctly assigned the burden of proof at the fifth step of the sequential evaluation process. Therefore, the decision of the ALJ is due to be affirmed.”
“the undersigned is convinced the ALJ properly discounted the testimony of Claimant's grandmother, and that the ALJ's decision is supported by substantial evidence. In addition, the new evidence submitted to the Appeals Council does not render the ALJ's decision erroneous.”
“The Clerk of the Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g) as incorporated by Section 1383(c)(3) REVERSING the Commissioner's decision and REMANDING this matter with instructions to: (A) State the weight given to Drs. Nabidezah's and Caudill's respective opinions and, if they are discounted, the reason(s) for doing so.”
“The Clerk of the Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g), as incorporated by Section 1383(c)(3), AFFIRMING the Commissioner's decision.”
“The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g) as incorporated by 42 U.S.C. Section 1383(c)(3) REVERSING the Commissioner's decision and REMANDING this matter with the following instructions: (a) Reevaluate Plaintiff's subjective complaints of pain in light of all of the evidence of record...”
“The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g), as incorporated by Section 1383(c)(3), AFFIRMING the Commissioner's decision.”
“The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Sections 405(g) as incorporated by 42 U.S.C. Section 1383(c)(3) REVERSING the Commissioner's decision and REMANDING this matter with the following instructions: (A) Reevaluate the evidence with respect to Dr. Vincenty's opinion...”
“The ALJ properly formulated the hypothetical to the vocational expert and properly assessed Paintiff's RFC. In accordance with the foregoing, it is ORDERED: 1. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g) AFFIRMING the Commissioner's decision.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed matters provide descriptive caseload context rather than a complete census. No authoritative case-disposition baseline was available for the period.
Put Judge Klindt's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Klindt actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Klindt's own signed orders and cites them.