Berta - Lawyer Finally Takes My Tort Claim

[Teac]

A year ago this month the va screwed up my left eye cataract surgery. I have looked of lawyer for a year. Today a well know Austin texas law firm accepted my case for represenation. I was told that a claim of 300,000 was not unusal for the damage the va did, and that it likely will settle outside of court for at least 200,000. The law firm gets 20% of the settlement or 25% if it goes to court.

I was really surprised by the call from the lawyers office, I expected another turn down, but was assured that I clearly have a winning claim.... wish me the best of luck because since I am already 100% a new rating would not provide me any additonal compensation...... so this is the only way I can get compensation for this problem.......

Edited May 15, 2009 by jbasser

[carlie]

Teac,

After you file suit in Federal Court - the court will probably

order mediation prior to trial.

jmho,

carlie

[Berta]

I dont know what to suggest-

I fought back everyime they denied my FTCA tort-with medical evidence and VA case law and regs-

they also were denying the Section 1151 at the same time but both issues were handled separately.

as I mentioned before- 20 lawyers here in NY told me I would never succeed so I wanted the case resolved at the VA administrative level as it appeared no NY lawyer would be willing to help me in Federal Court.

(I was wrong- if any lawyer had seen the actual final OGC medical report they would have broken down the door here to represent me and go after millions in federal court-but this report was not released until after the settlement and released under FOIA-they started to talk money right away after the 5 th report and the General Counsel would not release this report to me until I settled.I never realised how bad the report was-it awarded all my chages but one and stated the VA medical care Rod had received was so poor that it would be very difficult to defend.(meaning defend in federal court))

I suggest that your lawyer obtain every bit of documentation the VA has on your claim to see if they should consider fighting at al the VA OGC level before filing suit in Federal Court.

What type of discovery has your lawyer asked for?

Has the lawyer or you as claimant obtained copies of any Peer Review reports yet?

Has the lawyer (or have you) contacted OMLA (Office of Medical/Legal Affairs here in Buffalo yet to see what they have as far as Peer Reviews?)

My FTCA had 5 Peer Review reports.

The first one totally agreed with my FTCA charges (per regional counsel and also per the doctor himself)and RC -VA wanted to settle within 3 months of filing the FTCA.

That report 'disappeared' of course from the VA -

For 8 years-

Three other negative Peer Reports I totally knocked down.

One was done in DC.

The final 5th Peer Report (of the two that were done in VA Washington) got it right.

For the first time since the initial report vanished-the VA read my medical evidence and then they couldnt wait to settle with me so I would go away.This all took over 3 years.

When I found the initial report that VA wanted to settle with me on-months after filing my FTCA-( I only found this when I re-opened my AO death claim in 2003 ) I realised at that minute that VA will go as low as they can go-and hide or ignore probative evidence.

Same as why my recent award took over 6 years-they had ignored and /or lost my evidence

I dont know what advise to give to you.

I never regretted in the long run that I had to handle my FTCA myself.

It meant a lot of medical and legal study but I knew I would prevail.

But I do suggest that your lawyer obtain discovery under FOIA or whatever they can use to see what the VA really has so far regarding your tort claim.

They might have-as they had in my situation- enought to settle the tort now-but if you dont find this out yourself -they will hope to string it along in the federal court- which could add years to any resolve.

Have you gotten an IMO yet?

Has your lawyer suggested getting one yet?

I didnt have one for my Tort but I was relentless in getting them to acknowledge what the medical records and autopsy revealed and I fought every denial until they could not combat my charges anymore.

Your lawyer sounds confident of your case at the federal level but this means to me that they could fight back on the adminstrative denial.

This is just my opinion as an experienced FTCAer.

You need to get what the VA has as evidence.Copies of any Peer Reports they have done.

OMLA can be contacted via the VA web site.

I found out recently that they (OMLA) screwed up too on my case.

You might even find out no Peer Review Reports were even done- and OGC denied without any medical basis at all.

[Teac]

I still haven't heard anything about my case, I guess it could be years. I am scheduled for another eye surgery on the 22 of this month. My doctor thinks a new surgery will put a stop to any new vision loss, but that what damages I already have to my vision can not be corrected. This should strengthen my malpractice case, but who knows......

[dannydad]

A year ago this month the va screwed up my left eye cataract surgery. I have looked of lawyer for a year. Today a well know Austin texas law firm accepted my case for represenation. :P I was told that a claim of 300,000 was not unusal for the damage the va did, and that it likely will settle outside of court for at least 200,000. The law firm gets 20% of the settlement or 25% if it goes to court.

I was really surprised by the call from the lawyers office, I expected another turn down, but was assured that I clearly have a winning claim.... wish me the best of luck because since I am already 100% a new rating would not provide me any additonal compensation...... so this is the only way I can get compensation for this problem.......

this entire blog needs to be saved what a great instructional tool, can we find space for it ????

[broncovet]

Judy

Don't be discouraged because a lawyer turns you down. In many cases, it is not the claimant's fault, and it does not necessarily mean that your case is not "valid". It could well have more to do with the lawyer, than your case. For example:

1. The Lawyer may not be capitalized well enough to take your case. The lawyer still has to pay his light bill, his secretaries, etc., and since most VA appeals take 4 years, (according to VCS on 60 minutes), the lawyer may not be able to wait 4 years on his money. That is, he is going to have to invest hundreds of dollars, and years and years, and he simply may not have the money.

2. The lawyer may have one or more personal problems...he may be thinking of moving, or even getting out of law, getting a divorce, etc, and 4 years is a long time to commit to.

3. The lawyer may not have any experience in your type of case, and does not want to risk loosing, knowing that it may hurt you, and also hurt his reputation.

4. The lawyer may be too busy, or "skimming the cream". That is, he only takes cases that he thinks are a slam dunk, because he does not have to take cases where he may spend lots of time/money and never get paid. There are many in this category.

5. Finally, I knew one lawyer that said he was in VA law, but quit VA law, because VA is a pain for lawyers also, and he did not want to wait 4 years to get his money, so he merely switched to other areas of law that are more lucrative.

6. Lawyers LOVE wealthy clients with (big) money..cuz they love to get paid. If they can figure out that you are not, they try to find someone else with money.

Just look for another one..you may have to go through dozens..kind of like applying for a job right now.

Edited January 4, 2010 by broncovet

[Pete53]

Judy I live in san antonio, here is the web address of the lawyer I am using... he is also a medical doctor...they are in Austin

http://www.govtclaim.com/contact.html

I plan to contact these attorneys to help my Brother Mike's wife. I am scheduled to go to El Paso in a few weeks to gather the paper work. As my sister in law plans to move to Austin in the summer I could not be happier as to their location and I think I may know Higgenbottom

Thanks for posting this and good luck