Approval rates
Judge Suing maintains a lifetime approval rate of 63%, which currently trends 5 percentage points above the national average of 58%. At the Houston-Bissonnet Hearing Office, the latest office-wide approval rate stands at 56%, placing Judge Suing's recent performance at 7 points above his local peers. These figures are derived from a substantial docket of 12,337 lifetime decisions, providing a clear view of his historical decision-making.
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 Suing'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 decade on the bench, Judge Suing has demonstrated a consistent approach to disability claims. While your approval rate saw minor fluctuations between 2018 and 2022, recent years show a notable trend toward higher approval rates, with 73% in 2023 and 71% in 2024. This shift suggests a potential change in case mix or evidence presentation that has influenced recent outcomes. The latest period reflects a continuation of this steady pattern, reinforcing the importance of high-quality medical documentation in your case.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Suing'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 assigns cases to judges using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment is essentially random. Within the Houston-Bissonnet Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates across the bench range from 44% to 72%. Because of this variance, the judge you draw can influence the procedural flow of your hearing. You can find more information on the Houston-Bissonnet Hearing Office page.
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.