Mary Louise Duncan v. Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Mary Louise Duncan applied for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits on March 26, 1999. She was denied benefits at each stage of the administrative process. She then sought judicial review, and the district court denied relief. She now appeals, and we reverse with directions to the district court to remand to the Commissioner to award benefits.

Duncan was 48 years old at the time of the hearing before the administrative law judge (ALJ). She has an eighth-grade education and functions at a marginal intellectual level. Various men in her life have sexually abused her.…