A federal judge has signed off on a settlement to allow some 4,000 Queens residents who received partial and full denials of their Social Security claims to have their cases reheard before different administrative law judges.

In an order filed Oct. 18, Eastern District Chief Judge Carol Bagley Amon (See Profile) deemed the settlement in the class action suit Padro v. Astrue, 11-cv-1788 “fair, reasonable and adequate.”