The situation surrounding administrative law judge David Daugherty from West Virginia continues to grow worse. Daugherty was the target of a Wall Street Journal investigation that uncovered Social Security judges who approved disability cases at unusually high rates. Now the chief judge of the same court in which Daugherty sat is giving up his managerial post in the midst of the investigation.
Chief Judge Charlie Andrus plans to stay on as a judge, but will no longer be running the office, which he has been doing since 1997. Part of the controversy stems from the fact that Daugherty approved some disability cases that originally belonged to other judges or were pending assignment. Andrus put a stop to that practice when The Wall Street Journal contacted him about Daugherty. More information about the Social Security Disability benefits process is available from a Tulsa Social Security Disability lawyer.
Some accuse Andrus and other supervisors in the West Virginia Social Security Disability office of failing to act earlier because Daugherty helped the office meet monthly goals. Understaffed and facing an exponentially growing number of cases, Social Security staff and administrative law judges, critics suspect, sometimes sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity. Assistance in navigating the Social Security Disability benefits application process is available from a Tulsa Social Security Disability attorney.