What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA
Several years ago i applied for disability.I was of course immediately denied as almost all applicants are as s.o.p.At that point i did what i thought was the smart thing and retained legal representation in the form of a well known national disability lawyer/advocate. To make a horrible long story short i waited out the process and appeals and finally after 3 years got my hearing before a judge.
After all the standard procedures and swearing in the judges first real question to me was what had transpired to cause my current situation. I was floored.I told the judge that i had been informed repeatedly and with great emphasis that any and all information that was certainly relevant to my case in my own opinion was absolutely NOT relevant as said info pre-dated my date of application for benefits.
The judge was less than pleased and my "lawyer" who id only got to meet less than an hour before the hearing for the very first time in 3 years recoiled in horror saying"it wasn't me your Honor" which in fact it wasn't, but it WAS the people she worked for.The judge made it clear the information was most certainly relevant and he wanted to hear everything i had to say about it. My lawyer didn't speak so much as another word the entire hearing.
Before i could even finish testifying on my own behalf the judge awarded me full benefits ,full back benefits,excluded me from re-applying in future and promised to personally fill out my paperwork and file it himself to speed up the process.My lawyer later told me hes never done that in the 125 cases shes "handled" with him.
The judge apologized to me personally and no less than 5 times on behalf of others and asked to personally shake my hand. Once because i had to be present unnecessarily,twice on behalf of the govt for failing me,once on behalf of the state for failing me, [B]and once for the gross mis-information of my own counsel.[/B]
Needless to say the info my own counsel "suppressed" would have certainly helped my case as it would have consisted of testimony by physical therapists,doctors,and spinal specialists.
The bottom line is this: i feel like my lawyer may have taken advantage of me to increase his payday by prolonging my case and my misery by feeding me false information. I almost feel as though i should seek recourse against my own lawyer.I feel as though the 25% they are going to get was for the work i did testifying for myself, they ultimately did nothing to earn their fee other than lie to me.
Am i right , am i wrong, should i just be happy its over and let it go and let them take advantage of me and forget about it? need some advice please.
Several years ago i applied for disability.I was of course immediately denied as almost all applicants are as s.o.p.At that point i did what i thought was the smart thing and retained legal representation in the form of a well known national disability lawyer/advocate. To make a horrible long story short i waited out the process and appeals and finally after 3 years got my hearing before a judge.
After all the standard procedures and swearing in the judges first real question to me was what had transpired to cause my current situation. I was floored.I told the judge that i had been informed repeatedly and with great emphasis that any and all information that was certainly relevant to my case in my own opinion was absolutely NOT relevant as said info pre-dated my date of application for benefits.
The judge was less than pleased and my "lawyer" who id only got to meet less than an hour before the hearing for the very first time in 3 years recoiled in horror saying"it wasn't me your Honor" which in fact it wasn't, but it WAS the people she worked for.The judge made it clear the information was most certainly relevant and he wanted to hear everything i had to say about it. My lawyer didn't speak so much as another word the entire hearing.
Before i could even finish testifying on my own behalf the judge awarded me full benefits ,full back benefits,excluded me from re-applying in future and promised to personally fill out my paperwork and file it himself to speed up the process.My lawyer later told me hes never done that in the 125 cases shes "handled" with him.
The judge apologized to me personally and no less than 5 times on behalf of others and asked to personally shake my hand. Once because i had to be present unnecessarily,twice on behalf of the govt for failing me,once on behalf of the state for failing me, [B]and once for the gross mis-information of my own counsel.[/B]
Needless to say the info my own counsel "suppressed" would have certainly helped my case as it would have consisted of testimony by physical therapists,doctors,and spinal specialists.
The bottom line is this: i feel like my lawyer may have taken advantage of me to increase his payday by prolonging my case and my misery by feeding me false information. I almost feel as though i should seek recourse against my own lawyer.I feel as though the 25% they are going to get was for the work i did testifying for myself, they ultimately did nothing to earn their fee other than lie to me.
Am i right , am i wrong, should i just be happy its over and let it go and let them take advantage of me and forget about it? need some advice please.
