California

CA · Region SFO

DDS approval rate

39.0%

-0.8 pts vs national

DDS approval rate

39.0%

National: 39.8%

3-year change

+2.5 pts

Annual receipts

186,857

FY2024

Hearing offices

74 ALJs

Latest monthly DDS data · 2026-03

Initial receipts

17,531

Initial determinations

15,604

Initial allowance rate

35.1%

Initial pending

76,847

Recon determinations

3,899

Recon allowance rate

16.9%

Hearing offices in California

Office	Rank	Processing days	Pending	Approval	Judges
SAN BERNARDINO	39	242	1,292	62.2%	5
SACRAMENTO	66	253	2,439	69.9%	7
LONG BEACH	75	256	1,922	56.2%	5
OAKLAND	90	260	1,819	66.4%	6
NORWALK	96	263	874	67.4%	4
PASADENA	98	265	1,147	67.6%	5
SAN FRANCISCO	105	269	1,511	52.3%	8
STOCKTON	108	271	1,249	44.2%	4
MORENO VALLEY	113	273	1,830	57.4%	6
SAN RAFAEL	119	278	652	61.0%	3
SAN JOSE	127	282	1,009	59.7%	6
ORANGE	131	284	2,022	59.5%	5
LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN	133	286	1,388	71.6%	4
LOS ANGELES WEST	136	289	2,144	62.5%	7
SANTA BARBARA	140	294	1,002	72.8%	6
SAN DIEGO	148	308	2,477	58.9%	8
FRESNO	159	365	1,090	68.5%	8

ALJs in California (74)

Sorted by approval rate.

Judge	Office	Approval	Decisions	Awards
Masterson, Aubri G	SANTA BARBARA	92.3%	156	144
Engel, David	TULSA OHO	91.7%	156	143
Thompson, Michelle	LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN	87.3%	245	214
Irias, Sigrid	LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN	81.9%	171	140
Villere, Plauche F.	SACRAMENTO	80.2%	328	263
Lenzini, Robert	ORANGE	79.2%	231	183
Suing, Timothy	HOUSTON WEST	77.3%	22	17
Lishner, Elizabeth R.	LOS ANGELES WEST	77.0%	161	124
Duann, Tom	NORWALK	76.9%	238	183
Cooper, Bruce T	PASADENA	75.8%	236	179
Reich, Gail	LOS ANGELES WEST	75.8%	219	166
Gill, Kevin	OAKLAND	75.0%	128	96
Yerkey, Marc	LONG BEACH	74.6%	173	129
Lunsford, Lisa	OAKLAND	74.3%	265	197
Bozarth, Shiva	FRESNO	73.9%	161	119
Dunn, Barbara	PASADENA	73.9%	153	113
Chau, Ken H	PASADENA	73.8%	141	104
Hernandez, Evangelina	OAKLAND	73.0%	226	165
Floyd, Cynthia	LONG BEACH	72.8%	246	179
Yasutomi, Mark	HONOLULU	72.7%	99	72
Blume, David	SACRAMENTO	71.9%	288	207
Iafe, Robert	SAN DIEGO	70.1%	201	141
Skarda, Trevor	SACRAMENTO	69.3%	88	61
Hong, Serena	SAN RAFAEL	69.3%	127	88
Martin, Lisa B.	SACRAMENTO	69.2%	143	99
Alis, Enrico	OAKLAND	68.9%	241	166
Arno, Josephine	MORENO VALLEY	67.7%	220	149
Rosenbluth, Robin	LOS ANGELES WEST	67.5%	228	154
Wolking, Tova	SAN JOSE	67.5%	83	56
Stevens Bentley, Elizabeth	SAN BERNARDINO	67.3%	275	185
Winkelman, Roger E	SANTA BARBARA	67.1%	76	51
Magana, Ghermann	PASADENA	66.9%	278	186
Richardson, Michael B.	SAN DIEGO	65.3%	173	113
Yee, Davis	SAN JOSE	63.8%	207	132
Nguyen, James	NORWALK	63.0%	265	167
Coulter, Paul	NORWALK	63.0%	54	34
Carberry, James	NORWALK	62.9%	197	124
Benjamin, Daniel	SAN BERNARDINO	62.9%	35	22
Septer, Scot	FRESNO	61.4%	267	164
Knowdell, Christopher	SACRAMENTO	61.4%	272	167
Silva, Troy	SAN BERNARDINO	59.4%	234	139
Gunn, Evelyn	LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN	58.4%	154	90
Pellegrino, Gloria	SAN FRANCISCO	58.4%	231	135
Kirby, Marti	MORENO VALLEY	58.4%	137	80
Elias, Yasmin	PHOENIX NORTH	58.0%	50	29
Gallegos, Kimberly	LONG BEACH	58.0%	245	142
Cabotaje, Michael	SAN RAFAEL	57.6%	59	34
Zimmerman, Stacy	ORANGE	57.5%	221	127
Kwon, K.	SAN RAFAEL	57.4%	237	136
Gillis, Sara	SACRAMENTO	56.5%	262	148

Showing the top 50 of 74 judges.

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See SSA historical approval base rates for a California claim by condition, age, and stage.

California

Latest monthly DDS data · 2026-03

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