Social Security Commissioner JoAnne Barnhart, appointed by President Bush, has proposed new regulations which are intended to decrease the time that Social Security Disability and SSI claimants have to wait while their claims are being decided. Everyone is in favor of improving
the waiting time and making the process more efficient. However, these proposed regulations have drawn criticism from attorneys and others who represent disabled people, who assert that the proposed changes improve administrative efficiency but decrease administrative fairness.

Most Social Security claimants are unrepresented in the early stages of their claims and have little understanding of what they must prove in order to qualify for disability benefits. They furnish the names of their doctors and hospitals to the Social Security Administration expecting that the agency will obtain the information from these sources. Often, however, important medical reports are not obtained and the claim is denied without critical information necessary to establish disability. Many times, without obtaining many of the claimant’s own medical records, the agency obtains consultative examinations from doctors who are under contract with the agency, whose examinations are sometimes very brief and performed without access to existing medical records. These examinations often fail to reveal the presence and extent of the claimant's actual medical problems. The agency denies many claims based upon these one-time examinations. Only after they have been denied one or more times do most claimants seek the assistance of counsel. At that point the attorney must begin to develop the case, educate the claimant regarding the requirements of the law, obtain existing medical records, and assist the claimant in obtaining any further testing needed to investigate work limitations. This process often takes many months. The proposed regulations include new time limits, which become a trap for the unwary claimant. These deadlines may prevent the later submission of additional important evidence and cause a denial of benefits based upon an incomplete record.

Our firm through NOSSCR (National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives) is active in the effort to ensure fairness in these proposed regulations before they become final..........

Tort Reform

Under the current administration there has been a drive for tort law reform limiting the rights of individuals and groups to sue. There has been a great deal of controversy concerning this issue and much misinformation has been widely circulated in the media. In the opinion of our firm's attorneys, it is not in the public interest to limit the right of individuals and groups (classes of injured parties) to sue. There are safeguards in place to prevent or to punish the filing of unfounded lawsuits. The courts have the power to punish unscrupulous lawyers and to limit attorney fees. Lawyer disciplinary procedures are used to suspend licenses and to disbar unethical practitioners. Lawsuit abuse has been far less a problem in our society than the corporate abuses which have made such suits necessary. The quick way and the easy way makes more money for companies. Acting safely, carefully, fairly, costs more and reduces profits. Often it is only the fear of such lawsuits which forces large businesses to adopt the procedures necessary to protect consumers, employees, and the public from harm caused by defective products, unsafe premises or equipment, dangerous pollution, and unfair labor practices. These lawsuits include businesses such as auto and tire manufacturers, drug companies, hospitals and nursing homes, insurance companies, retail chains such as Walmart stores and industries such as coal mines. These lawsuits have been able to prevent much harm to the public at times when our lawmakers have been unable or unwilling to pass legislation to protect the public from powerful special interest groups. Tort reform is short for giveaway of important public rights. We hope that our clients and our citizens generally will consider very carefully before giving any more rights away.