Bassett v. Astrue, No. 10-3454 (7th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe Equal Access to Justice Act entitles a prevailing party to fees only if the position of the United States was not substantially justified. The Seventh Circuit affirmed denial of fees for a remand to an administrative law judge for an explanation of the determination of a precise date on which the social security applicant became disabled. The ALJ did not ignore, mischaracterize, selectively cite, or otherwise bungle a significant body of relevant evidence, but committed the sort of articulation error that ordinarily does not taint the commissioner’s position. A reasonable person could conclude that both the ALJ’s opinion and the commissioner’s defense of the opinion had a rational basis in fact and law.
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