Sterling Law Office

According to a front page article in the July 30, 2007 issue of USA Today, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has a backlog of 745,000 cases pending appeal for the denial of disability benefits. The article states that the average wait time for a hearing on an appeal is 17 months, with waits that can exceed 2½ years in some parts of the country. For people with limited financial resources to see them through lengthy waiting periods these kinds of delays in receiving benefits can be ruinous.

To boost the prospects of getting a disability application approved on the first try, and perhaps eliminate the need to appeal, a number of actions can be taken. First, understand that the Social Security Administration will consider benefits only for people who are totally disabled with a condition that will last or is expected to last at least one year or results in death. A short-term injury or illness or a partial disability will not qualify for benefits.

There are two programs available to individuals with disabilities: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI), also referred to as Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The Social Security Administration administers both programs and under both programs individuals must meet the medical criteria to be deemed disabled.

Social Security Disability Insurance: SSD is a credits based benefits program. Basically, benefits are paid to those individuals who are found disabled and are “insured” through the program by having worked and paid Social Security taxes. Generally, applicants for SSD will need to have worked 5 out of the last 10 years (although for applicants under age 31, there are different criteria). You will be required to submit information about all of your work for the past 15 years (or longer depending on when you are last insured for benefits). It is helpful if you have kept track of your past earnings. Your benefits will be based on your earnings and if you have records proving what they are then those records can help correct any mistaken over- or under-estimation of your benefits by SSA.

Supplemental Security Income: SSI is a financial needs based program. Through the disability part of SSI, benefits are paid to those individuals who are found disabled and have a very low income and little assets. It is not dependent on whether you have worked or not. For some individuals, they may receive benefits through SSD and SSI – if their SSD benefits are low then they may be supplemented with SSI payments as well.

The best place to begin to prepare for the application process, whether for SSD and/or SSI, is at the government website www.ssa.gov/disability which offers answers to questions, forms, definitions, and guidelines.

In preparing to apply for disability benefits, it is helpful first to compile a list your medical diagnoses, a list of the treatment you have received for your injury or illness, and a detailed list of your medications. You can ask the doctor(s) who treats your disability if he or she will support your disability claim and will write a letter to that effect. Having a doctor affirm that you cannot work due to your disability can strengthen your claim. If you are suffering financially or have lost your medical insurance because of your disability then it may seem impossible to pay for ongoing doctor visits. However, treatment is essential to support your benefits claim even if you can only be treated at the county health department or free clinics.

The medical record is the next item to prepare. It should include a list of the names, specialties, addresses, and phone numbers of all treating physicians, offices, and hospitals now and in the past. You can go the extra step to get copies of your complete medical file from each of your treating sources and submit them in an organized manner with your application. If you do this rather than leave the collecting of your medical records to SSA, you can ensure that they have all your records promptly and do not miss any. You will need to provide SSA with a signed copy of their record release authorization form so they can obtain any other information they need for your claim.

Once all the records are gathered to support your application, you may apply online at www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability by telephone, or schedule an appointment to apply in person at your local Social Security office at 1-800-772-1213.

If despite all best effort the initial disability application is denied then try not to be too discouraged as some 60 to 70 percent of first-time applications are denied. From the date of the denial, you will have 60 days to file a request for a hearing before an administrative law judge (your appeal) and it is necessary to act on this quickly. The sooner an appeal is filed, the sooner you get into line for a hearing date, and the sooner benefits may be granted. It is important to get help from a disability lawyer for this appeal to make certain your case is fully prepared before the hearing and to represent you during the hearing itself.

Sterling Law Office handles Social Security Disability cases on a contingency fee basis for all professional legal fees. This means that we get paid if and when you get paid your past due benefits. If you are disabled and due government benefits, Sterling Law Office staff will do our utmost to help you secure them.
Posted by Mary Wreford and Wendy K. Bailey, Esq., August 10, 2007

The information presented in this article is for general information only and should not be construed to be legal advice.

In a victory for workers who incur personal injury in construction site accidents, Lea Ann Sterling, with co-counsels Wendy Bailey and Dean Robb, recently secured settlements totaling $317,500 for a worksite-injured carpenter.

On February 1, 2005, Joseph LaPan, a framing carpenter, was helping to construct the BayView Condominiums in Suttons Bay. He walked across a section of the building site and stepped on a two-inch piece of styrofoam that had been left on top of and concealing an opening for a future stairwell. He immediately broke through the soft foam and fell 17 feet onto a water-covered concrete floor.

In the workplace accident, Mr. LaPan sustained severe, permanent injuries which, at age 51, put an end to his life-long career as a carpenter. It started a disability journey that has led him through nine surgeries for spinal, disk, arm and wrist trauma, hundreds of doctor and physical therapy visits, and thousands of hours of medical treatment.

On the day before the accident, cement contractor Americrete poured an upper level cement floor cap. Due to cold weather, the lower level needed to be heated for the cement to set. To keep the lower level heated, the openings for the stairwells had to be covered. Americrete covered the stairwell holes with the two-inch pieces of Styrofoam, which they found laying unused at the site. The stairwell openings were thus hidden, unsealed, and left without barriers or warning signs.

Ms. Sterling persuasively argued to a case-evaluation panel that the defendants in the case, including the general building contractor for BayView Condominiums, the development company, the framing subcontractor, and Americrete, the cement subcontractor, failed and were negligent in their duties to ensure a safe workplace. The panel’s case evaluation against the four defendants was for a total of $600,000. The building and development companies each accepted their shares of the evaluation award, in the sum of $300,000. The framing contractor initially rejected the case evaluation, then agreed to settle for $17,500.

The case went to trial against the remaining defendant, the concrete subcontractor, who declined to accept the mediator evaluation. At trial, the Leelanau County jury found “no cause of action” against Americrete, on the basis that leaving an unsecured, unmarked hidden trap at the construction site was within the scope of duties they were hired to perform. Somewhat astonishingly, the jury affirmed the concept that Americrete was doing the job they were hired to do, and hence no “separate and distinct duty” was created. The jury reached this verdict even though there was no written contract between Americrete and the construction contractors, but only a purchase order that broadly called for Americrete to pour the cap and “provide all material and labor and remove all trash/debris” for concrete work at the site.

The trial portion of this case demonstrates some of the significant legal hurdles injured construction workers face if they seek compensation. Recent appellate court rulings in construction and personal injury law in Michigan, driven by conservative courts which favor business owners and insurance companies over workers and victims, have made it much more difficult for valid personal injury claims to achieve their just reward.

The ominous implications of the “no cause of action” jury finding are that subcontractors working on a jobsite bear no responsibility to co-subcontractors also working on the site to adhere to industry safety standards, nor indeed to take any measures whatsoever to maintain a safe, hazard-free workplace. If their actions lead to injuries of construction workers on the site, they bear no liability. A general contractor will be liable only if the four requirements of the common work area doctrine are met, including that a “significant” number of workers, being more than four workers, were exposed to the hazard.

A news story from the Leelanau Enterprise with additional information about this case can be found at www.leelanaunews.com in the May 2007 Archives section.
Posted by Mary Wreford; Approved by Lea Ann Sterling, Esq., July 6, 2007

The information presented in this article is for general information only and should not be construed to be legal advice.