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

The Full Service New York Disability Law Firm of Turley, Redmond & Rosasco, LLP is pleased to announce that David Tobias and Craig Rosasco have been named partners in the firm.

David Tobias is a graduate of Hofstra Law School and has been Supervisor of the firm’s Social Security Disability Department for the past five years. Prior to joining Turley, Redmond & Rosasco, LLP in 2000, he was an Associate Attorney at a national Social Security disability law firm for ten years. Over the course of his career, he has appeared at more than 1000 administrative disability hearings and has a winning percentage of over 95%. In addition to his Social Security disability work, David also supervises the firm’s New York State Retirement Disability Pension Department and our Veterans Disability Appeals Department (which is unfortunately quite busy now given the number of injured and wounded returning from Iraq). Dave is based out of our Suffolk office and can be reached at (631) 582-3700 x114. Please join us in congratulating Dave on his accomplishment.

Craig Rosasco is a graduate of Touro Law School where he was Student Bar Association President. Craig joined the firm in 1997 after working in the Claims Department at a major workers’ compensation insurance company. Since then, he has concentrated in representing workers with New York State Workers’ Compensation claims. Over the course of the last 9 years, he has appeared at more than 800 hearings before the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Craig is known for his strong trial and negotiating skills on behalf of injured workers, and uses his prior insurance company experience to benefit the firm’s clients. Craig handles workers’ compensation claims out of our Nassau and Queens offices. He can be reached at either (516) 745-5666 x113 or (718) 396-3500 x113. Please join us in congratulating Craig on his accomplishment

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On October 16, 2005, my partner Chris Redmond rode in the New York City Multiple Sclerosis Association's MS Bike Tour and his group of riders raised over $20,000 for MS research! Congratulations to Chris and his team for raising an astounding amount for this great organization. The event raised over a Million dollars in total! By raising money like this, we get that much closer to finding a cure for multiple sclerosis. Although I have found our multiple sclerosis clients to be some of the nicest and most courageous people we have ever met, we would be glad to never see another MS Social Security Disability or Long Term Disability claim again.

On a different front, last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Long Island MS Association Chapter's 8th Annual Research Dinner. The speakers were Malcom Gottesman, MD, Director of the MS Treatment Center of Winthrop University Hospital and Susan Goelz, PhD of Biogen. Bottom Line - in addition to Multiple Sclerosis drugs like Avonex, Copaxone, Rebif and Betaseron, pharmaceutical giant Novartis is currently in Phase Two trials with a promising new drug currently labeled "FTY720". This is an oral drug which can reduce MS lesions. Finally, the drug Tysabri may soon be coming back on the American market after it was withdrawn over fears it might cause PML. All in all, it was a fascinating night filled with hope that we will conquer Multiple Sclerosis sooner rather than later.

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Don't Talk to the Insurance Company and Don't Sign Authorizations!

Within a few days of learning of your work related accident, the insurance company claims adjusters will pounce on you. These people are NOT your friends. They are employed by the workers' compensation insurance company to save money on your claim. While many claims adjusters may be good human beings trying to "do the right thing", at the end of the day they are under intense pressure from the insurance carrier to minimize your workers compensation benefits and close your claim as soon as possible.

Often times their initial contact with you will take the form of a syrupy and insincere letter to the effect of: "My name is Nancy Neverpay and I'm your Claims Examiner. I look forward to working with you and your doctors to help you get better and return to work. Please call me so we can discuss your claim." Don't trip while you run to the phone! It's the old "iron fist in the velvet glove trick". They try to sound perfectly innocent and caring, but when they get you on the phone they will be fishing for information to deny or minimize your workers compensation benefits. They will try to steer you to their hand-picked doctor. They will assign you a "Nurse Case Manager" who will "coordinate" (insurance company lingo for "minimize") your doctor visits and attend each visit to your doctor. I've had clients tell me the insurance company nurse stayed in the examining room while the client disrobed and the doctor performed the examination! Whatever happened to doctor-patient confidentiality and your inherent right to privacy? Bottom Line - the workers compensation insurance companies don't care and will do whatever they think they can get away with. You don't have to stand for such treatment.

When you get a letter from the insurance carrier, simply send it to your workers' compensation lawyer for the appropriate response. If an insurance company Claims Adjuster, investigator or rehabilitation nurse calls you on the telephone, politely tell them that "My lawyer told me not to talk to you. If you need any information, please call him at this number and don't contact me again". Trust me - your workers compensation attorney will never hear from them.

Always remember that the New York Workers Compensation system is an adversarial system. You're "David" and the insurance company is "Goliath". Given a chance, Goliath will crush you like a bug! Be careful...

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For those attorneys who may have missed my Spring Seminar at St. John's Law School entitled "Representing Your First Workers' Compensation Client", I will be doing a repeat on Sunday, October 23, 2005 at 8:30 AM. (Ouch!). Apparently, the first workers compensation session was well received.

For lawyers interested in satisfying their CLE requirements, you can contact the Office of Continuing Legal Education at St. John's at 718-990-6006. Hope to see you there!

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He said it - not me! In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, ongoing American casualties in Iraq, and vicious attacks from the "Far Right" for his most recent pick of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, it appears that the President is giving up on his Social Security privatization plan. For those of us who have been arguing all along that it was ill-conceived and unaffordable, this is welcome news.

In reality, the President had no choice. The fact is that given his "Roosevelt-like" promise to rebuild the South (and fix poverty along the way!) after Katrina, he simply cannot afford the "Social Security 401k plan" he envisioned. The short term costs of Social Security privatization about equal the mind numbing costs of Katrina. The conservatives in his own party are giving him a rough time on the cost of the Katrina promise - and they simply would not stand for additional debt that the Social Security plan would add to our children's dimming financial future. We are seeing the nicer and kinder George W. - and the Far Right is apoplectic!

This does not mean that the President isn't moving full speed ahead with his reform of the Social Security Disability process. The most recent proposals, while helpful to Social Security Disability claimants in some respects, have many flaws which can be disastrous for a disabled client. Thankfully, the new rules are not yet final and you can share your comments here with the Commissioner of Social Security. Look here for a sample critique of the new rules. While we may have dodged a bullet with Social Security privatization, the disabled might pay the price

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UnumProvident, the nation's largest long term disability insurance company, has been ordered to pay an $8 million dollar fine and change the way it evaluates long term disability claims in California in a settlement announced today. On the heels of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's wide ranging Unum settlement last year and a recent stinging LA Times article highlighting the problems in the entire disability insurance policy industry, UnumProvident has suffered another embarrassing blow. Now, residents of California have the best protections in the US against unscrupulous disability insurance company practices. No more "pizza parties" for employees who deny the most disability claims. Employees will now have a fighting chance to get the disability benefits they paid for and desperately need.

Hopefully, the California reforms will spread to all 50 states. If not, Congress should step in to reform ERISA, the federal statute that regulates group long term disability claims. To Unum's credit, based upon the experiences of my clients, UnumProvident does seem to have cleaned up its act recently. This settlement insures that such reforms shall continue. Now all we need is to have companies like MetLife, Cigna, and Disability Management Services jump on the reform bandwagon. Don't hold your breath!

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