David B. Lowry v. Jo Anne Barnhart, in Her Capacity as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Dan Hyatt Riley Atkins Bennett Engelman

In this case, social security lawyer David Lowry tries to live out what must be every lawyer’s fantasy by suing the judge who ruled against him one time too many. Lowry seeks a writ of mandamus to have Administrative Law Judge Dan Hyatt investigated and kicked off his future cases. We consider whether the writ can be put to this novel use.

1. Lowry represents social security claimants, and Hyatt is an administrative law judge who often presides over his cases. Lowry says Hyatt uses “intimidation and anger as a tactic to shorten [his] hearings,” refuses to hear evidence and denies him cross-examination. Hyatt also supposedly told two claimants that Lowry was a “poor attorney who does a poor job.” Lowry began filing motions to recuse Hyatt from his cases, and Hyatt responded with letters to Lowry’s clients defending his impartiality and encouraging them to ask Hyatt about their “rights to representation.”

Hyatt, for his part, doesn’t think much of Lowry. He says Lowry uses too many leading questions, fails to submit necessary medical records and questionnaires, and acts in a generally “disrespectful and contemptuous” manner. He says that Lowry once called him a “baldfaced…