Approval rates
Judge Koldewey maintains a lifetime approval rate of 76%, which is above the current Long Beach office average of 52% and the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from a docket of 3,588 lifetime decisions. Aggregate rates describe past decisions rather than predicting the outcome of 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 Koldewey'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 3-year tenure, your judge's approval rate shifted from 100% in 2016 to 72% by 2018. This trend reflects the stabilization of decision-making patterns as the volume of cases grew. The data suggests a consistent approach to evaluating disability evidence as the judge's caseload matured.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Koldewey'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.
Hearing with Judge Koldewey? See if a free benefits review fits your case.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Long Beach hearing office
The Long Beach Hearing Office manages a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office operates under standard SSA procedures for evaluating medical and vocational evidence. The office-wide latest approval rate is 52%. You can visit the Long Beach Hearing Office page for more information on the local roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is random. Within the Long Beach Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 ALJs range from 29% to 76%. Because of this variance, understanding the general environment of your hearing office is useful for your preparation.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
SSDI hearing approval rates — represented vs. on your own
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.