Joel B. Toomey
How Judge Toomey decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Social Security medical-opinion regulations (20 C.F.R. 404.1520c): the ALJ need not address every factor but must explain supportability and consistency; a treating source's check-box opinion that is inconsistent with the majority of the objective medical evidence and lacks internal support can properly be found not persuasive. A claimant who reargues those opinions is improperly asking the court to reweigh the evidence.
“The ALJ's finding that Dr. Riebsame's extreme limitations were not persuasive is supported by substantial evidence.”
VA disability ratings in SSA appeals: under the revised regulations a decision by another governmental agency (e.g. a VA service-connected disability rating) is 'inherently neither valuable nor persuasive,' and the ALJ need not analyze it; failure to address the VA rating is not reversible error.
“the VA's disability rating is not probative and the ALJ's failure to consider it was not error.”
A provider's observations are not automatically a medical opinion under the revised Social Security regulations. In Brooks, a counselor described symptoms and severity but did not state what the claimant could still do or identify functional restrictions, so the ALJ did not owe a supportability-and-consistency analysis.
“The ALJ need not refer to every piece of evidence in the decision.”
For an FLSA settlement, Toomey checks that the agreement fairly resolves a bona fide wage dispute and that fees and costs do not taint the worker's recovery. In Flores Jaramillo, those findings supported approval and dismissal with prejudice.
“The Court finds that the proposed Settlement Agreements are a fair and reasonable resolution of a bona fide dispute over FLSA issues.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Commissioner's decision is AFFIRMED. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment accordingly and close the file.”
“The Commissioner’s decision is AFFIRMED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed matters include twenty-seven consent Social Security dispositions from cases filed between 2017 and 2023 across several divisions, plus a consent FLSA settlement. They provide descriptive caseload context rather than a complete census, and no authoritative case-disposition baseline was available for the period.
Put Judge Toomey's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Toomey actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Toomey's own signed orders and cites them.