[blindlaw] meeting with clients

[Craig Borne]

Albert,
My understanding of SSDI law with respect to over payments is that it is a
two-pronged test:
1. The fault of over payment was on the part of the SSA; AND
2. The beneficiary has no means to pay back the over payment.
Many folks can prove step 1, but it is step 2 that is the killer.  All
monies are scrutinized.
Craig

Craig Borne, Esq.

Ostendorf Zimmer Yake & Borne, LLC

Attorneys at Law

Office: (410) 529-2040 

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of albert griffith
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 12:06 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] meeting with clients

It seems as if it would be against equity and fair conscience to collect
overpayments from this guy.  He didn't know he wasn't supposed to be
receiving benefits, did he?  You don't have to respond, just a thought.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Kathleen Hagen
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 8:14 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] meeting with clients

Hello,  At present that creates somewhat of a problem for me as I am
handling many overpayment social security cases.  They are labor intensive
and usually quite large.  What I'm having to do, and it might change if the
office says it costs too much money, is use a reader/assistant to go through
the file with me, separate it into relevant documents I'm going to need, go
with me to Social Security office to review files on occasion, help me
organize information for clients when filling out overpayment waivers.  My
secretary provides releases for clients to sign.  I take braille notes and
discuss what will happen with my clients, write the memoranda, and mostly
try to calm down the clients.  You see, what makes these cases so hard is
that the agency usually doesn't catch up with someone for five or six years,
by which time they can owe up to $70,000 or higher in overpayments.  I even
have one case right now where a client had worked out a plan to pay back the
overpayment, including using his credit card.  He had to file bankruptcy
because his credit balance was so high.  Then, SSA just recently contacted
him and told him that he should never have received SSDI at all, so now owes
another $26,000.  Needless to say, he's hysterical.  That's really the
hardest part.  Finding resources for clients to help them get back on track.

It's a little like helping someone filing for bankruptcy.  And I definitely
need to use a reader to help with the paperwork.
Okay, so that was a long and rambling answer.  I usually have my
reader/assistant go with me to court or administrative hearings.  Right now
I'm very lucky, although my reader is not, because she's unemployed and can
pretty much be at my beck and call until she gets another job.  If my reader
can't go, i ask one of the clerks working in our office, if it's in the
summer, to go along.  After all they get the experience of seeing meetings,
courtroom pleadings, or even mediations.  You will probably find other blind
people on list who are much more organized than I am.  I also will eagerly
await what others say.
Oh, and in recent years I don't have to use a reader much for research as
West Law is pretty usable on line.  That's also great because when I'm
quoting a case and citing, I can cut and paste right on the computer.

Kathy Hagen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Spencer" <craigspencer2.0 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 3:18 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] meeting with clients


> Hi every one:
>
> I was just wondering how do members of this group efficiently handle
> meeting
> with clients and taking a record of what took place in the meeting i.e
> note
> taking/recording....
>
> At what point do you utilize your support staff?
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks Craig
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindlaw mailing list
> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw
>


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