New York Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Turley, Redmond & Rosasco : Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Staten Island

My partner, and TRR's East End Managing Attorney, Chris Redmond will will be riding in New York City's 21st Annual MS Bike Tour on October 16, 2005 to raise funds for medical research to fight Multiple Sclerosis. Besides representing Multiple Sclerosis clients in Social Security disability claims throughout the years, Turley, Redmond & Rosasco has a personal interest in fighting multiple sclerosis as it has touched someone very close to us. As a result, earlier this year a number of our firm's employees participated in the Long Island MS Walk and raised a substantial sum for this worthy cause. If you would like to sponsor Chris' Bike Tour to fight Multiple Sclerosis, please click here for his personal MS Web page and make a contribution. Thank you!

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A Long Island man was charged with criminally negligent homicide last week for the death of a co-worker on a Queens construction site. Both men were employees of an electrical contractor in Forest Hills. According to the article in Newsday, the employee who died was on the forks of a forklift being driven by the employee now being charged with murder. The dead employee was hit by a piece of concrete in the chest. Police sources indicate that the employees may have been engaged in "horseplay". This was the second Queens workers compensation death claim in the past week.

Several points: 1) in the last year, forklift accidents have been on the rise in my office. Whether it is due to negligent operation or a manufacturing defect, these steel behemoths can be deadly. Be careful when you hear them beeping up the aisles at your local Home Depot!; 2) even when employees are engaged in "horseplay", they may still have viable workers compensation and Labor Law 200, 240 or 241 claims. New York State Labor Law allows the injured worker to sue the general contractor or owner of the property at a construction site. Based upon the facts presented in Newsday, I would investigate both the workers compensation and the Labor Law claims in this tragic accident; 3) Hats off to New York’s Finest, the NYPD, for charging this potential crime. Many jurisdictions would have chalked it up as only a tragic accident. Let’s hope Queens District Attorney Richard Brown takes workplace safety seriously and prosecutes the defendant to the full extent of the law. Accidents on New York City construction sites are a major problem. Prosecutions like this will go a long way to promoting safer working conditions on construction sites.

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Thought President Bush’s Social Security Privatization Plan was dead? Think again! In the wake of significant Congressional victories such as the new energy bill and CAFTA, the President’s handlers are using Social Security’s 70th birthday to take another stab at private accounts. We can expect a new push this fall assuming issues like Iraq and Karl Rove don’t distract the President.

On Social Security’s 70th birthday today, we should be celebrating the spectacular success of this insurance program. Prior to its enactment in 1935, retirees and the disabled frequently lived in poverty. Social Security continues to be an important safety net for the least fortunate in society. It is not another 401k account to play the stock market. Wouldn’t it be nice to know you had this safety net if you live to be 90 and your nest egg has evaporated? As a Social Security lawyer, I think so.

Democrats and Republicans agree that private accounts do not solve the Social Security solvency problem. It’s a simple fact that people are living longer and Social Security will have to pay out more in the future. However, this fact leads me to conclude that we need the security of the Social Security program more than ever. Regardless, of your position on Social Security private accounts, we should all be grateful that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s foresight 70 years ago created a Social Security program that is the envy of the rest of the world. When I interview immigrant clients for Social Security Disability claims, they are overwhelmingly thankful that they moved to a country that does not let its citizens fall between the cracks. Let’s make sure we don’t tear down the security of Social Security by foisting private accounts on working class Americans. Happy Birthday, and many more, to Social Security!

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Employers may finally be waking up to the reality that workers compensation insurance companies ( not claimants or their lawyers ) are the real culprits in pushing up workers compensation premiums. Thanks to our friends at the Workers Comp Insider for the thorough and sad story of Enron-like insurance executives pushing up the cost of workers compensation insurance for small employers. Its generally not the claims examiners attorneys deal with who are the bad apples. In fact, they themselves are victims by having to work for companies with tarnished reputations or if they own now de-valued insurance company stock. I've heard from more than a few of my workers compensation insurance industry friends who are demoralized and looking to jump ship (and work for claimant law firms like my own!).

Once again, most of this unethical and immoral business conduct would not have come to light had it not been for the long sword of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. I, along with workers compensation insurance expert Joe Paduda, predict more indictments, guilty pleas and convictions down the road for the workers compensation insurance industry. As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over till its over". Hopefully, we will have a much fairer workers compensation system for all stakeholders at the end of these investigations.

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New research shows an increase in brain cancer deaths for veterans exposed to the nerve agent Sarin in Gulf War I. Over 100,000 soldiers were exposed to chemical warfare in Iraq during the first Gulf War. According to the new study, they now have double the risk of dying from brain cancer compared to the 250,000 soldiers who were not exposed. And this information is just coming out now - some 14 years after their exposure. Makes you wonder what our current soldiers in Iraq have to worry about when they hopefully come home for good...

We generally know the great sacrifices our soldiers give during war time, including the ultimate sacrifice. However, we all should remember the overwhelming challenges some face when they come home. Whether it is the staggering divorce rate, learning to walk or eat with new limbs, PTSD , personal bankruptcy or the cruelly indifferent attitude of those not brave enough to serve, our veterans face huge obstacles. If one needs the Hollywood version to get the picture, rent the DVD's of "The Best Years of Their Lives", "Coming Home" or "Born on the 4th of July" and see if you don't think more should be done to ease their transition home and protect their health.

As a veteran myself, I take great pride knowing that my law firm has been helping veterans with service related disability and Social Security disability claims for many years now. These are not lucrative claims for lawyers, but they are very rewarding. David Tobias, our partner in charge of VA disability claims, is currently fighting an unusual claim involving cancer of the larynx (vocal chords) for a Korean War era veteran due to radiation exposure at a top secret atomic weapons assembly plant. Just getting the official records from the Department of the Army regarding the doses of radiation the veteran was exposed to was a battle. Now we have to prove that the exposure caused the larynx cancer. The Veterans Administration has fought us all the way, and the case is currently pending before the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Washington, DC. Personally, I think the VA underestimated the scrappy ex-wrestler from Long Island (Dave Tobias) and we are hoping to make some good law later this year. Let's hope we don't have to fight similar battles with the VA regarding these new brain cancer cases in the future.

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While I was on vacation last week, New York disability attorneys had a lot of interesting disability law developments to digest. I will try to catch everyone up on the most important developments over the course of the week, but I will start with the most important: the New Social Security Approach to Disability Determination proposed last week by Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart. Bottom Line – it’s generally BAD for claimants, and it's hidden agenda is to decrease the odds that disability claimants will win their Social Security claims.

Probably the most significant change for disability clients and their attorneys is the elimination of Appeals Council review of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decisions. While most Social Security judges are fair and competent, a few are neither. Some regional hearing offices are packed with bad judges. They start out with an agenda to deny the claim, and then proceed to have staff attorneys write their legally unsupportable decisions. Because all ALJ’s are members of a powerful union, it is almost impossible to rid Social Security of a bad judge. They are consistently reversed by the current Appeals Council.

And that’s the rub - eliminate Appeals Council review, and claimants will have to march into Federal District Court to reverse the lousy judges. Since many Social Security attorneys and non-attorney representatives are unwilling to take disability claims to federal court for a myriad of legal (non-attorneys can't) and financial reasons (filing fees), this will essentially deny many claimants a chance to overturn lousy ALJ decisions.

For lawyers who have busy and aggressive federal court disability practices, we will be quite busy. But in the big picture, not every unfairly denied claimant will come see attorneys like Turley, Redmond & Rosasco. For those unfortunate many, the Appeals Council served as a much needed safety net. It allowed deserving claimants to appeal their decisions at no cost simply by filling out a one page form. Now, they will have to proceed to the costly and complex federal court arena. I predict that the federal courts will quickly get bogged down with disability claims, leading to more delay and uncertain outcomes. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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