Friday, July 13, 2012

Child abuse - expungement - clear and convincing

TT v. DPW - July 13, 2012 - Commonwealth Court

http://www.pacourts.us/OpPosting/Cwealth/out/1890CD11_7-13-12.pdf

Following its recent opinion in G.V. v. DPW, the court said....

Historically, in expungement proceedings, the Department has had the burden to show that the indicated report was accurate by substantial evidence. Bucks County CYS v. DPW, 616 A.2d 170 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1992). However, in the recently argued G.V. v. Department of Public Welfare, we held that the use of this standard to maintain statutorily-designated information from an indicated report on the ChildLine Registry did not adequately protect the rights of the accused and adopted the clear and convincing evidence standard for those proceedings.

Clear and convincing evidence is the highest burden in our civil law and requires that the fact-finder be able to come to clear conviction, without hesitancy, of the truth of the precise fact in issue. Suber v. Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, 885 A.2d 678, 682 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005). To meet that standard, it necessarily means that the witnesses must be found to be credible, that the facts to which they have testified are remembered distinctly, and that their testimony is so clear, direct, weighty and convincing as to enable either a judge or jury to come to a clear conviction, without hesitancy, of the truth of the precise facts in issue. Id.

Here, an order maintaining the indicated child abuse report summary on the ChildLine Registry against T.T., a Pennsylvania public school teacher, results in a significant impact not only on his personal and professional reputation, but also on his ability to continue practicing his profession. Such an impact demonstrates the need to apply the stricter clear and convincing evidence standard in expungement proceedings.

EAJA - disability - closely approaching advanced age - HALLEX v. binding case law

Jones v. Astrue - ED Pa - July 10, 2012

http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/12D0666P.pdf

It is undisputed that if the ALJ had placed claimant -- 2 weeks from his 55th birthday -- in the higher category of “person of advanced age,” the grids would have directed a finding of disabled. However, despite Jones’s proximity to age fifty-five, the ALJ’s decision neither referred to a “borderline situation” nor cited 20 CFR §§ 404.1563(b) or 416.963(b). The decision did not consider which age category best described Jones’s ability to adjust to new work, but stated only that he was “a person closely approaching advanced age” based on his chronological age, contrary to the Third Circuit’s holding in Kane v. Heckler, where the Third Circuit held that the regulations require the ALJ to explicitly acknowledge a borderline situation and to determine which age category best describes the claimant’s ability to adjust to new work. 776 F.2d at 1132-34.

Following Kane, Jones’s proximity to age fifty-five at the time of the ALJ’s decision presented a borderline situation. Sections §§ 404.1563(b) and 416.963(b) require the Commissioner to consider the use of the higher age category in such situations. The ALJ was at least required to address the application of §§ 404.1563(b) and 416.963(b) to Jones’s case and explain why he used the lower age category.

The court rejected the Commissioner’s argument that the ALJ adequately considered Jones’s ability to adapt to new work by soliciting testimony from the VE. It noted that the ALJ never addressed the existence of a borderline situation during his colloquy with the VE, but instead asked the VE to assume at all times that Jones was categorized as a person closely approaching advanced age. The court also also held that HALLEX did not relieve the ALJ from explicitly recognizing the borderline situation as required by Kane because HALLEX is not legally binding.