Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to broader averages provides context for your hearing process. Judge Celaya maintains a lifetime approval rate of 57% across 15,984 lifetime decisions, which sits slightly below the current national average of 58%. While these figures offer a statistical baseline, they are not a guarantee of how your specific case will be decided. 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 Celaya'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 9 years on the bench, Judge Celaya has shown a shifting trend in approval outcomes. After a period of lower approval rates between 2017 and 2019, the data shows a rise in approvals peaking in 2023 and 2024. The most recent reporting period shows a 57% approval rate, suggesting a return toward the long-term lifetime average. This pattern reflects how case mix and evolving evidence standards can influence decision-making over time.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Celaya'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 the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Within the Miami OHO, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 50% to 78%. Because of this variance, it is important to focus on the strength of your medical evidence rather than the specific judge assigned. For preparation purposes, the guidance is the same regardless of which judge you are assigned.
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.