Lawyers Advise

[tmoe]

Hello everyone,has anyone ever use the Hill & Ponton law firm out of Flordia ? What is the normal fee to hire a lawyer 20% 30%?

Thanks everyone .

[john999]

Six lawyers on the contract? I think that is five too many.

[carlie]

I believe the law mandates a 20 % maximum limit up to a maximum of $6,000.

[tmoe]

this is the fee agrement.and if you dont believe me ask a lawyer your self they will tell you the same thing I dont have no reason to lie

8 years of retro for eed or cue claim I need all the lawyers I can get,just glad i have a case at least the lawyers think so.

scan0005.pdf

[tmoe]

forgot this one. If anyone see anything wrong with this please let me know about agreement and whats wrong this is what i sign and talk to

other lawyers about this all say same thing 20% is max if VA deduct it from your pay. Up to 30% but you have to pay.The other part of agreement

scan0006.pdf

[broncovet]

Try reading this link. It says that, the VA can review attorneys fees, but a fee of 20% will "presumed to be reasonable".

It would appear that the attorney can "charge" 30%, but the Va could review it and reduce it to 20%. It sounds like the attorney would have to justify to the VA the reason this case would be more than 20%. JMHO.

http://www.vva.org/v...t_benefits.html

It includes a fast letter by Brad Mayes. Whether we like it or not, he's "da man", when it comes to Va benefits, and pretty much no one will over rule him except maybe the courts or congress.

Veterans sometimes use "Fast Letters" signed by Brad Mayes as evidence. They are the official policy of the department of Veterans Affairs.

Edited November 12, 2011 by broncovet

[Berta]

According to the 2011 edition of the VBM by NVLSP, in their Appendix on pages 1626 and 1627 with a sample fee agreement-

under 38 C.F.R. 14.686 (h) ,attorneys can only charge 20% of any retro and can add additional costs for copies of medical records, but must absorb in-office copy fees, any phone4 fees generated to the claimant, any computer research the attorney does, and any mailing fees.

I would also assume (I have not read the considerable info in the VBM on attorneys and VA claims)that

in some cases if the attorney advances a cost for an IMO- that could be added to their fee but few attorneys will do that for a VA claim.

A Fee agreement ,sent to any prospective VA claimant does not indicate the attorney thinks the claim will succeed.

It just means if they help you to succeed, they will be paid from the retro.

The above 38 CFR citation is for VA,BVA, and CAVC lawyers.

I suggest anyone considering hiring a lawyer for a VA claim to ask them for the Docket and citations numbers for claims at the BVA they have won, and/or lost.

As well as at the CAVC.

If a claim has probative medical evidence, and the proofs of exposure or any other conditions the VCAA letter asks for and these conditions have been met, by the veteran's evidence -then in my opinion-they don't need a lawyer to succeed.

However there are claims that are so unusual and unique or simply denied at every point with no reasonable rationale from the VA, these are claims that might require a lawyer's help.

Be careful of what you sign.

I considered hiring a lawyer for my 2004 CUE claims.In discussions with the lawyer regarding my claims status I mentioned another claim pending since 2003 that, at that point, had n impact n my 2003 claim.

The lawyer wanted me to sign an Undated fee agreement when they found out the other claim was worth slightly less than $60,000, because it looked like that older claim would be resolved at some prior to the CUE claim.

That claim was solid because of years of work I had done on it already.

I refused to sign an undated agreement that could have potentially given them 20 % of the 60 thousand.They didn't do a single thing at all to support or advance the 2003 claim and I never asked them to represent me on that.

After I dumped them on the fee agreement thing- they called me and emailed me as they still wanted to handle my CUE claim.

They even re worded the fee agreement and dates on it.

No way Jose.

Let the buyer beware.

I think this is a good law firm and wont reveal their names but then again-they had seen my evidence for the older claim and knew it was a winner.

I didn't have to share that almost 60 thousand award with anyone.

When I filed a Mandamus Writ years ago I heard from 12 lawyers wo saw my contact info on the CAVC docket. I asked them for info on their successful VA claims.

We have every right to ask any lawyer who says they can represent us before the VA for some info on their expertise in VA case law.

And if they are fully accredited by the VA to handle veterans claims.