Hired Lawyer

[gp747]

i am sick of the whole mess i hired lawyer sent papers today. these vso's act like you are a pile of s--t when you try to get info out of them.i am sick of it ,they are worthless and more likely are to damage your claim rather than help. legal help for vets

is who i got . they were kind enough to extend my time for holding my files and i decided on them ,michael viterna.

if i do not hire lawyer i am going to really get screwed . this vso s--t isn't worth a damn and i am tired of their condescending e-mails when i want a simple answer.

i have no faith in vso's anymore and do not see what purpose they serve they sure haven't helped me ,what i have got was on my own.

they should be barred and let lawyers step in from the start,that would stop the backlog. the lawyers could get it right from the start and cut down on appeals .

[broncovet]

Scooby

I agree with Berta..go ahead and hire the lawyer..but choose carefully and watch him! I have not had good luck with VSO's either. I think there is a conflict of interest between the VSO and the VEteran. That is, I think they get much of their funding ultimately from the government so they remember who signs their paycheck and it is not the Veteran. Remember to keep a watchfull eye on anyone who says, "I am with the government and I am here to help you."

When you hire the lawyer, you tell him go collect money for me and keep 20% of what you collect.

He has a vested interest in collecting as much as possible for you. His paycheck is directly related to your paycheck. That being said, he can also "skim the cream"..and work only cases which he thinks will produce money for him.

How does he know which ones will produce money? He does not. He has to take a guess just like us. It will ultimately be decided by some judge he probably has not met. So, some lawyers take all of them..then they "weed out" the chaff..they just stop working on your case and know you will drop out and get another lawyer. Be carefull and not get a "spagetti" lawyer..one that takes every case and then sees which ones stick to the wall. You want a lawyer that carefully screens your case..wants your complete file..doesnt just give in and say ok, I will take your case, because he plans on working it and expects it to produce. He has already checked and thinks your "spagetti" will stick to the wall.

Even if your lawyer does carefully screen your case, screen him, too! Check to see what cases he won..do a search on cases he did, then check the results. Remember this is your life and whether you live in poverty or not will in no small part be determined by how smart and how persistent your lawyer is. Choose lawyers carefully.

Edited February 15, 2009 by broncovet

[gp747]

well it is apparent to me now i will have to fight them for the rest of my life and if the lawyer works out he will know how to deal with them .

i have been since 1971 trying to get some relief and just last September got some relief at 30% . however it was way too low for the suffering i have been through and anticipate going through.

and i still have not figured out how this bizarro justice system of theirs works.

you remember superman and the bizarro world? that is what they remind me of their system is bizarre and unjust with these so called vso's and poa's,who really do not give a s--t unless they might know or have someone pull strings to get their attention.

i believe these vso's will help a selected few and ignore some ,it depends on who you know .

like berta said the lawyers should have the opportunity to step in from the start and i guarantee the backlog of claims will disappear ,saving the government millions of dollars and get some sensible disability laws on the books.

[Steppenwolf]

well it is apparent to me now i will have to fight them for the rest of my life and if the lawyer works out he will know how to deal with them .

i have been since 1971 trying to get some relief and just last September got some relief at 30% . however it was way too low for the suffering i have been through and anticipate going through.

and i still have not figured out how this bizarro justice system of theirs works.

you remember superman and the bizarro world? that is what they remind me of their system is bizarre and unjust with these so called vso's and poa's,who really do not give a s--t unless they might know or have someone pull strings to get their attention.

i believe these vso's will help a selected few and ignore some ,it depends on who you know .

like berta said the lawyers should have the opportunity to step in from the start and i guarantee the backlog of claims will disappear ,saving the government millions of dollars and get some sensible disability laws on the books.

How is it that any citizen can be subjected to a set of laws that other citizens are not also subject to? To take a poke at my own question i think that only criminals are not entitled to the same rights that all other Americans are entitled to. Oh, and there is one more condition which IMHO is a free pass to break the law with immunity and that's diplomatic status. And last but not least are those in the military who are protect on one hand and screwed on the other under the code of military justice.

Justice?

Why isn't there are real law firm like: Crane, Poole & Schmidt of Boston Legal fame especially an attorney like Alan Shore?

Maybe then we'd have a chance to change the crimes committed against those who served.

[Commander Bob]

...I agree sort of-

if the vet orgs canned their SOS and reps the moneys saved could be used for lawyers fees.But that aint gonna happen.

The best vet rep you will ever have is who you see in the mirror.

We know our claims in and out ( or at least we should)

and even the good reps and SOs out there (and I believe there are many) have hundreds of claims compared to one claim or a few that we have pending.

Some of the lawyers in my opinion-dont have a clue either-

the new lawyers who got on the June 2007 lawyer reg bandwagon are not up to speed.

It has taken me over a decade to know what I know about VA claims- and during that decade the regs have changed many times.

The 1,100 FNGs that the Ros have hired to help wih claims-while they might be well dedicated people hoping to do a good job-are absolutely unqualified for handling anything beyond the basics of VA 101 and we all know every claim is so unique that I feel their training will only be worth it after they have had years on the job.

A vets advocate and I discussed the AO outside of Vietnam situation at length the other day-and he suddenly sighed and said to me ----this stuff is so HARD!

Yes it is.It is time consuming and exhausting and the VA knows full well that they have put on disabled veterans much more then they should.

We really cannot rely-in my opinion-on any rep or lawyer-

to provide the VA what they state they need in the VCAA letters.

If we can give them what they ask for, and as long as they do not lose or destroy this evidence- we dont need reps or lawyers to succeed.

You said FNG's, Berta!! LOL

I'm with you.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Commander Bob 92-93

[john999]

I know the VA can take a IMO from a veteran and somehow twist it up into something that ends up hurting the vet. There should be some sanctions on this kind of crap. Ignoring,losing or grossly misinterpreting evidence should have some consequence.

[Steppenwolf]

I know the VA can take a IMO from a veteran and somehow twist it up into something that ends up hurting the vet. There should be some sanctions on this kind of crap. Ignoring,losing or grossly misinterpreting evidence should have some consequence.

It's always easy to do things when you can hide behind anonymity. Imagine if all of the dirty hands that touch your case had to have their picture and name attached to it. Makes me wonder if that reality might not change the way they rule?

i say this because of a study that was done with people who were told that it was their job to give an invisible subject an electric shock if they answered a question incorrectly. The people with the electiric shock button could decide the level of shock in intensity and time. They couldn't see the subjects and the subjects couldn't see them. But the shockee's could be heard at some point yelling for mercy. It was found that the shockers after a while would feel obligated to "teach them" and after getting too many questions wrong they decided that the shock level and period of time needed to be more to the point of maximum shock in both severity and time.

The only part that the shockers didn't know was that the subjects were only reacting to a meter telling them how sever the shock and lenght of time was. When the test was over the shockers did not want to meet the people they were shocking.

Different countries responded differently. Some wouldn't partisipate at all.

After writing this i found the experiment....we'll see if i remembered it correctly from psych 101

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

Edited February 15, 2009 by Steppenwolf