Frank H. McCarthy
How Judge McCarthy rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge McCarthy no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge McCarthy
Frank H. McCarthy served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma from 1995 until his retirement in 2020. He previously worked in the Tulsa County Public Defender's Office, served as an Assistant United States Attorney, and practiced privately in Tulsa. He earned degrees from the University of Scranton and the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
How Judge McCarthy decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Star’s Social Security appeal, McCarthy found that the vocational expert’s wrong DOT number was harmless because the expert gave the correct job title and the claimant showed no effect on the outcome.
“Although the vocational expert referred to an incorrect DOT number, Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate how citing to the wrong DOT number but naming the proper job title affected the outcome of this case. The misstatement by the vocational expert does not constitute reversible error.”
Procedural preferences
In Social Security appeals, the judge requires the administrative law judge's own written decision, not the Commissioner's litigation brief, to supply the specific, evidence-linked reasons for a credibility finding; a conclusory or boilerplate explanation will not be rescued by after-the-fact justifications offered on appeal.
“The court may not create or adopt post-hoc rationalizations to support the ALJ's decision that are not apparent from the ALJ's decision itself.”
Cautions
In Christopher G. v. Berryhill, McCarthy affirmed the Commissioner’s disability decision after finding that the administrative law judge had given reasons supported by the record for assigning a treating physician’s opinion only partial weight. He declined to reweigh the evidence on judicial review.
“Plaintiff essentially asks the court to reweigh the evidence. This it cannot do.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons discussed below, the Court AFFIRMS the decision of the Commissioner.”
“The court finds that the denial decision should be REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings as set out herein.”
“Accordingly, the decision of the Commissioner finding Plaintiff not disabled is AFFIRMED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- As a magistrate judge, McCarthy carried his own consent-jurisdiction docket, dominated by Social Security disability appeals, alongside frequent referral work on reports and recommendations, discovery disputes, and settlement conferences in civil, prisoner, and criminal cases assigned to district judges.
- This profile reports only his own signed dispositive rulings on the consent Social Security docket.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge McCarthy was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2022.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
A historical record
Judge McCarthy no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.