U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2003

The court held that the ALJ did not apply the required legal standards to the treating physician’s opinion because he did not explain what weight he assigned it or why. The court reversed the district court’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings, leaving the appellant’s other challenges unresolved because…

The court held that the district court abused its discretion by dismissing the claims against Mapes with prejudice because the court had assigned the U.S. Marshal responsibility for service and the record did not show that the plaintiffs were culpable for the service failure.