David W. Christel
How Judge Christel decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In SS appeals, requires the ALJ to give 'specific, clear and convincing' reasons (the most demanding SS standard) before rejecting a claimant's subjective testimony; a bare recitation of medical evidence will not survive review. Owens, Dkt. 15 (2024-04-30).
“In only providing a recitation of the medical evidence, the ALJ failed to identify which testimony is inconsistent or unsupported and why Plaintiff's testimony is not credited based upon the alleged inconsistencies.”
Procedural preferences
On reversal, applies the default rule of remanding for further administrative proceedings rather than for an award of benefits, except in rare circumstances (Benecke). Owens, Dkt. 15.
“Generally, when the Court reverses an ALJ's decision, 'the proper course, except in rare circumstances, is to remand to the agency for additional investigation or explanation.'”
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 = 2 |
Granted: 2 | 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.
“Accordingly, Defendant's decision to deny benefits is reversed and this matter is remanded for further administrative proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. §405(g) in accordance with this Order.”
“ORDER signed by Judge David W. Christel. The Commissioner's final decision is REVERSED and this case is REMANDED for further administrative proceedings.”
REFERRAL R&R (recommendation layer, EXCLUDED from consent-final motion stats). On a referred pro se IFP matter, Christel RECOMMENDED the IFP application be denied and the case dismissed for failure to state a claim; District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright ADOPTED the R&R on 2024-11-08 (Dkt. 20). Shows his referral-screening recommendation workflow (distinct from his 636(c) consent finals).