Last Update: 9/08/05 (Transmittal I-3-36)
Black's Law Dictionary defines abuse of discretion as “a judgment or decision by an administrative agency or judge which has no foundation in fact or in law or a failure to exercise a sound, reasonable and legal discretion.” When a judgment or conclusion is involved, abuse of discretion means acting in a manner that is imprudent, incautious, unwise, against precedent, and clearly against logic. In the context of the ALJ's actions, abuse of discretion occurs when the action taken is clearly not justified under the particular circumstances of the case.
The following are examples of abuses of discretion by an ALJ:
The ALJ did not grant a request for postponement of the scheduled hearing even though the claimant's attending physician contacted the ALJ and confirmed that the claimant's current health would not permit attendance at the hearing.
The ALJ refused to grant a claimant's request for additional time to submit a hospital report even though the hospital's custodian of records submitted a statement attesting to the need for additional time because of fire damage in the records department.