Approval rates
When evaluating your potential hearing outcome, comparing a judge's lifetime performance to broader benchmarks provides necessary perspective. Judge O'Blennis has maintained a 39% approval rate over his 7-year tenure, a figure that should be viewed alongside the latest national approval rate of 58%. These statistics are derived from a significant docket of 13,461 lifetime decisions, offering a stable data set for review. 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 O'Blennis'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
The approval trend for Judge O'Blennis has shown variation over his 7 years on the bench. After reaching a peak approval rate of 47% in 2018, the data indicates a shift in subsequent years, with a low of 26% in 2021 before a recovery to 34% in 2022. This pattern reflects the complexities of the cases heard and the evolving nature of evidentiary requirements. The recent period suggests a departure from the earlier, higher-approval years, highlighting the importance of thorough case documentation.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge O'Blennis'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 O'Blennis? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Check My BenefitsAbout the Creve Coeur hearing office
The Creve Coeur Hearing Office serves a diverse population across the region, managing a high volume of disability appeals. With a bench of 6 judges, the office operates under standard SSA procedures for administrative hearings. You can expect a formal process where the quality of your medical documentation is the primary driver of the outcome. You can visit the Creve Coeur Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
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. Within the Creve Coeur Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench vary significantly, ranging from 38% to 84%. This variance underscores why focusing on the merits of your own medical evidence is the most effective strategy. You can review the office's general performance trends to better understand the local hearing environment.
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.