U.S.D.J. Azrack Reverses ALJ

U.S. District Court Judge Joan Azrack reversed the decision of Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) Andrew Weiss, in which he relied on opinion of disgraceful so-called medical expert named Steven Shilling. Judge Azrack’s decision is being added to the Court Decisions under our website’s Resources tab. 

Judge Azrack found that “the flaws in Dr. Shilling’s opinion clearly warrant remand.” Elaborating, Judge Azrack explained that, “The testimony from Dr. Shilling, the non-examining medical expert who testified at the administrative hearing, mischaracterized certain medical records and appeared to ignore others.” Judge Azrack proceeded to detail how Shilling manipulated and misrepresented the facts concerning the claimant’s stress tests. 

ALJ Weiss tends to overemphasize the objective evidence in his decisions. Therefore, it was not surprising that he predicated his decision on the stress test data. However, it was surprising that ALJ Weiss gave Shilling’s opinion “great weight,” and elevated it over the opinion of the treating cardiologist, who conducted the stress tests, and concluded it precluded the claimant from working.