Hon. Dawn M. Gruenburg

SSA publishes no office- or national-level breakdown of fully favorable and denial rates. The 12 months are SSA's figures for this fiscal year to date plus the rest of the previous fiscal year; how we calculate them.

Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Gruenburg's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.

The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Gruenburg'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.

• 78% Approval rate Paige 4,266 decisions
• 51% Approval rate Herring 3,861 decisions
• 69% Approval rate Alaga-Gadigian 3,696 decisions

These active judges' approval rates over the same 12 months (July 26, 2025 – July 31, 2026) are closest to Judge Gruenburg's 86%. Three of them last decided cases in Michigan. With too few close matches there, the rest come from SSA's Chicago region.

• 84% Approval rate, last 12 months Melody Paige Oak Park, MI 422 decisions · 2 points below Judge Gruenburg
• 83% Approval rate, last 12 months Christopher Ambrose Lansing, MI 320 decisions · 3 points below Judge Gruenburg
• 82% Approval rate, last 12 months Beth J. Contorer Oak Park, MI 393 decisions · 4 points below Judge Gruenburg
• 84% Approval rate, last 12 months Gabrielle R. Vitellio Toledo, OH 423 decisions · 2 points below Judge Gruenburg
• 88% Approval rate, last 12 months Richard Thrasher Chicago National Hearing Center, IL 139 decisions · 2 points above Judge Gruenburg

Rates within 5 points of each other are hard to tell apart at a typical caseload, so treat these as judges with comparable records, not a ranking. See Judge Gruenburg and the three closest side by side →