Latest / FLG Disability Insights / Why a Partner’s Statement Can Change an SSDI Appeal
Transcript
- What can a partner see about disability that never makes it into a claimant’s hearing testimony? Welcome to FLG Disability Insights. I’m Nick Feden of Feden Law Group. In Fain versus Bisignano, the Ninth Circuit addressed what an administrative law judge must do with competent testimony from someone who observes the claimant’s daily functioning. Fain’s partner described details that Fain herself had not included in her hearing testimony. Chores took two to three times as long as ordinarily expected. During fibromyalgia flares, she could manage little beyond dressing and feeding herself. The administrative law judge rejected that account without giving a reason. The Ninth Circuit held that Social Security’s changes to the medical-opinion regulations in twenty seventeen did not eliminate the circuit’s requirement that an administrative law judge give germane reasons for rejecting competent lay testimony. A partner’s observations are not analyzed as a medical opinion. But that difference does not permit a decision-maker to disregard them without explanation. The court found the omission harmful because the partner supplied additional details that could affect the disability determination. It ordered further administrative proceedings. It did not order an immediate award of benefits. The court also upheld other parts of the administrative law judge’s analysis, including the evaluation of three medical opinions and the rejection of Fain’s mental-symptom testimony. That procedural outcome matters. The decision preserves a duty to explain the treatment of competent lay evidence in the Ninth Circuit, while recognizing that valid reasons can support discounting it and that some errors may be harmless. It does not mean every witness statement must be accepted as true. The practical takeaway is to make firsthand observations concrete. A useful statement can explain how the witness knows the claimant, what the witness personally saw, what interrupted an activity, what help was needed, and how long recovery took. Better days and worse days can be described honestly without guessing at their frequency. And the statement should distinguish direct observation from what the claimant reported. A sentence such as, “I take over dinner preparation when she has to lie down,” gives a decision-maker a functional fact to evaluate. A broad conclusion that someone cannot work says much less. Accuracy, detail, and acknowledgment of what the witness does not know make the statement more useful. Fain is a Ninth Circuit holding. It does not establish that every federal circuit applies the same rule, and it does not guarantee remand whenever an administrative decision discusses lay evidence imperfectly. Visit FedenLawGroup dot com and try FLG Case Analyst Beta. Get a full report generated by an attorney-trained, cutting-edge AI model, then connect with our firm about your next step. This podcast provides general information only and is not legal advice. I’m Nick Feden. Thanks for listening to FLG Disability Insights.