Approval rates
Judge Bruntz maintains a lifetime approval rate of 53% based on 9,715 decisions. When compared to the latest reporting period, the judge's rate sits 2 percentage points below the West Des Moines office average and 5 percentage points below the national average. These figures provide a statistical baseline for the judge's tenure on the bench. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing.
Office- and national-level breakdowns of fully favorable vs denial rates aren't currently published by SSA in the per-office disposition data. The judge's own breakdown is the detail we have today.
Approval rate over time
Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Bruntz's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.
Decision pattern
Over a 5-year tenure, your judge's approval trend has shifted. Starting with a 58% approval rate in 2016, the data shows a transition toward lower approval percentages in subsequent years. This pattern reflects the judge's evolving approach to case evaluation and evidence assessment. The recent data suggests a distinct shift in the volume of allowances compared to your judge's earlier years on the bench.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Bruntz's bench. Judge-specific preparation guidance requires a corpus of public Appeals Council decisions involving each judge, which we haven't built yet.
- Bring a clean treating-physician record. Longitudinal primary-care or specialist notes spanning the disability period, with consistent symptom documentation, are typically the strongest evidence at hearing. A single month's records usually aren't enough.
- Don't rely on consultative exams alone. If your medical evidence is built primarily around a one-time CE finding, expect detailed questioning. Supplement with treating-source statements where possible.
- Prepare for daily-activity questions. Have honest, specific answers about a typical day. Answers that conflict with the medical record (in either direction) tend to hurt credibility.
- Expect transferable-skills probing. A vocational expert will usually testify about jobs available to someone with your limitations. Your representative should be prepared to cross-examine.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. The West Des Moines bench is comprised of 6 judges, with lifetime approval rates ranging from 38% to 70%. This variance highlights the importance of being prepared for the unique requirements of whichever judge is assigned to your case. For preparation purposes, the guidance remains consistent regardless of your assigned judge.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.