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South Carolina disability judges: favorable decision rates

Hearings in South Carolina are decided by administrative law judges at hearing offices in Charleston, Columbia, Florence, and Greenville. The chart below shows, for each judge, the share of decisions that were favorable — from least to most favorable.

  1. Tammy Georgian Charleston
    14.7% 61 of 415
  2. Patrick R. Digby Florence
    35.4% 146 of 413
  3. Mallette Richey Florence
    38.6% 168 of 435
  4. James K. Grimes Florence
    43.9% 204 of 465
  5. Paul Elkin Columbia
    45.2% 47 of 104
  6. Joshua L. Vineyard Columbia
    49.1% 197 of 401
  7. Carl Bennett Watson Charleston
    50.9% 196 of 385
  8. Lori J. Williams Florence
    55.1% 231 of 419
  9. Jason A. Lewis Florence
    55.9% 109 of 195
  10. Colin Fritz Greenville
    56.8% 138 of 243
  11. Philip Healy Charleston
    57.5% 130 of 226
  12. Anthony Capece Greenville, Columbia
    57.7% 266 of 461
  13. Nicole S. Forbes-Schmitt Charleston
    59.1% 234 of 396
  14. William P. Diggs Charleston
    62.9% 327 of 520
  15. Julie Petri Greenville
    64.9% 296 of 456
  16. Thaddeus J. Hess Greenville
    65.2% 368 of 564
  17. Christopher R. Daniels Columbia
    65.3% 130 of 199
  18. Stacy Gray Florence
    67.7% 149 of 220
  19. James Martin Greenville
    69.3% 329 of 475
  20. Ashley Bumgarner Columbia
    69.4% 129 of 186
  21. Jonathan T. Shoenholz Columbia
    69.5% 346 of 498
  22. Walter Cary Herin Columbia
    71.2% 247 of 347
  23. Amanda Craven Greenville
    73.9% 365 of 494

About these numbers

Favorable means a decision that was fully favorable or partially favorable. The percentage is the number of favorable decisions divided by the judge's total decisions; dismissals and other dispositions are not counted as decisions.

Source: Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings Operations, ALJ disposition data, reporting period ending September 25, 2026. Each judge's figures are for the judge's South Carolina hearing offices. Judges with fewer than 50 decisions in the period are omitted, because results from so few cases are not meaningful.

These figures describe past decisions by each judge. They do not predict the outcome of any claim, which depends on its own facts and evidence. See how a claim works and the Savannah hearing office.

See also the Georgia judges.

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Christopher L. Rouse
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Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 807-5000

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