Berkowitz Reversed A Second Time

We represent a 32 year old bipolar disorder from Deer Park who worked in real estate.  We filed the claimant’s Social Security Disability (“SSD”) application in 2016, which administrative law judge (“ALJ”) Alan Berkowitz denied.  After the Appeals Council denied review, we appealed to federal court, where we got the ALJ’s decision reversed for a second hearing.  The ALJ partially denied the SSD application at the new hearing by repeating the same mistakes that he made at the first hearing.  The Appeals Council reversed the ALJ, and ordered that the case be reassigned to another ALJ.  This should all sound familiar to regular readers of this blog.

We are a full service SSD office, and represent claimants at all levels of the application and appeal process.  If you find yourself unable Please call us for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

SSD Inside Attack

Anyone who has worked hard should expect to be approved for Social Security Disability ("SSD") benefits when they become unable to work due to the physical and mental toll their jobs have taken on them.  As long as your doctors confirm that your condition prevents you from working on a full time basis, you should expect to be approved, and rightfully so.

Many of our citizens work in physically demanding jobs, such as construction workers, factory workers, cleaning services, etc., which frequently result in physical impairment.   We could not survive without these essential workers, but they are not being rewarded for their service.

Former President Trump appointed Andrew Saul as the Commissioner of Social Security.  Saul continues to enact new rules that make it even more difficult to get approved for SSD benefits due to physical impairments, especially musculoskeletal problems.  We need to get the Saul rule overturned, and remove him as Commissioner.  You pay his salary, yet he does not have your best interests at heart.   We need a Commissioner with empathy and compassion for the most vulnerable members of society.  You funded Social Security; you worked for it; you need to fight for it.

       

Applying for SSD

Applying for Social Security Disability ("SSD") or Supplemental Income ("SSI") can be an overwhelming, anxiety provoking task, especially if you apply on your own. Retaining an attorney who specializes in disability can make the process a lot less intimidating and overwhelming. And recent studies have shown that you are 3x more likely to be approved for SSD or SSI if you are represented by an attorney. If you are thinking about applying for SSD or an SSI appeal, my office offers free phone consultations. If we take your case, we handle everything for you, from filing your application to representing you in court, if it comes to that. We speak to Social Security on your behalf, making the process a lot less overwhelming for you. We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Help for SSD?

In the last few weeks of the Trump presidency, he and his administration passed a number of rules that would make it even more difficult than it already is to be approved for Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income. We have to hope that the Biden administration will be able to reverse those rules, and sooner rather than later.

Credibility Approval

 

We represent a 50 year old former general clerk from Florida with physical and mental impairments seeking Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits.  At the claimant’s hearing, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) noted that the claimant had no medical treatment the past year.  Typically, an ALJ will deny SSD benefits under those circumstances on the assumption that if a claimant stops treating, then it shows they got better.  Alternatively, some ALJs will deny SSD benefits on the grounds that the claimant failed to supply the requisite contemporaneous evidence to support their claims.

We explained to the ALJ that the case law in New York provides that a claimant cannot be penalized for failing to seek medical treatment if they cannot afford it or lack health insurance.  The claimant, who was homeless, credibly testified that both of those circumstances applied in her case.  The ALJ accepted that testimony, and approved the claimant’s SSD application.

Please call me office for a free phone consultation if you are interested in applying for disability.  We have offices located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

MS Victory

We represent a 38 year old former pharmacy technician from Ozone Park with multiple sclerosis (“MS”).  We filed her application for Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits six years ago.  We continued to fight for SSD benefits at all levels of adjudication.  The first administrative law judge (“ALJ”) on the case was Jay Cohen.  Cohen’s decision denying SSD benefits was so transparently defective that when we appealed to federal court, the attorneys representing Social Security immediately asked us to agree to remand the case.

The good news is that the case was finally approved today by a new ALJ.  The bad news is that it took the claimant six years to get approved.  Moreover, as is typical in cases that last this long, it will take many months for her to get paid.  Having said that, the claimant is grateful that we "stuck with her" and finally got her approved.

If you need assistance applying for disability, or help with a claim that you already filed, please feel free to call my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

 

 

Cigna Reverses LTD Denial

We were retained by a 59 year old former Director of Engineering from Brooklyn with multiple medical issues, whose long term disability (“LTD”) benefits were terminated by Cigna based on an Insurance Medical Exam (“IME”) by Jeffrey Liva, who makes his living doing IMEs for disability insurance companies.  Cigna paid $6,000 for the Liva IME.  Contrary to the treating doctors, Liva said the claimant could work.

The claimant had an uphill battle because it is virtually unheard of for a disability insurer to reverse a denial after investing thousands of dollars for an IME to say a claimant can work.  We appealed with various diagnostic test reports, and medical and vocational reports, to rebut the Liva opinion, but Cigna failed to respond within 45 days as required under federal law.  Consequently, we sued Cigna, which had the effect of ensuring a favorable standard of judicial review for the claimant.  Today, Cigna finally responded with a letter reversing its decision to terminate the claimant’s LTD benefits.

It took many months to develop the medical and vocational evidence that was submitted on appeal.  Despite the fact that the appeal evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that the claimant remained unable to work in any full time capacity, it still took actually commencing litigation to obtain the result.

If you are in need of an attorney who specializes in disability claims, please feel free to contact my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.