Rooney v. Shalala

TRAGER, District Judge:

This social security appeal raises two legal issues: first, whether the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) improperly refused to reopen two denials of benefits and, if so, whether plaintiff was so prejudiced by this failure to reopen that she is entitled to an immediate award of benefits.

Background

Plaintiff, Irene Rooney, is a fifty-nine-year-old woman who left school when she was sixteen to work for Ohrbaeh’s Department Store. She was a reliable employee for thirty-three uninterrupted years. Mrs. Rooney now suffers from a long list of disabilities. She contracted benign…