A claimant in a disability case has the option to appear before the administrative law judge (ALJ) via video hearing. While this might sound like a good idea at first, there are potential complications your Ocala Florida disability attorney may want to discuss with you.
In a usual video hearing where the ALJ and the claimant are in different places, The ALJ will decide who will appear by video. Occasionally the ALJ will use an expert who is in his location, while other times the expert might appear from the claimant’s location. In some hearings only the expert or the claimant’s Ocala Florida disability attorney appears by video. The ALJ will use his judgment to ultimately decide who will appear by video.
A good ALJ assigned to your case for a video hearing may reassign your case to another ALJ if you requested to appear before him in person. This is not good for your case, since reassignment to another ALJ for any reason will surely lead to significant delay in scheduling for the hearing.
Video hearings also present logistical hurdles for your Ocala Florida disability attorney from getting an early copy of the entire paper hearing exhibit file, which shortens his time to acquire and submit new evidence and develop the case in time for the scheduled hearing.
Your attorney could run into problems on the day of the hearing since the ALJ has the hearing exhibit file. This means that he will not have a chance to review the hearing exhibit prior to the hearing. As last minute review of the paper hearing exhibit file is not possible in a video hearing, he may request the SSA to submit an updated exhibit list and any new exhibit file dating to the time he copied the file to be faxed a day or two before the hearing.
Don’t forget that the ALJ can hear everything you say inside the hearing room. Never say anything inside the hearing room before or after the hearing.
If you are disabled and seeking SS disability benefit, please call the law offices of CJ Henry at (352) 304-5300 for legal representation. CJ Henry is an experienced Ocala Florida disability attorney who specializes in disability cases.
