AM I BEING BADMOUTHED BY AN ATTORNEY?

[63Charlie]

 

 

The last attorney I had refused to answer or return my phone calls.

She made a decision, without informing me, to withdraw two appeals via her "contact" at the St Petersburg VA Regional Office that I had submitted for hearing loss and tinnitus 

 

I revoked her legal representation.

 

This attorney refuses to waive the legal fees.

I have tried, without success, to obtain new legal representation by other law firms.

Once I send the law firm the letter they request showing where I released my former attorney, usually in a day or two, I get contacted informing me they will not be able to take my appeals.

One attorney told me he was going to call and speak with my former attorney before he took my case.

After their discussion, he declined to represent me.

I have asked other law firms why they refused to take my appeals, and the standard response is, "We are declining representation and by our actions of refusal of representation does not indicate that your appeals are without merit.."

 

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by 63Charlie

[Tbird]

There is always more to the story that we will ever know. I recommend if you have a problem with a professional such as an attorney that you take it up with the bar association. It is unfair to bash professionals by name when they have no ability to represent themselves. So please in these situations keep names out of it, if someone wants to pm you for more information that is fine. 

[63Charlie]

I will remove the names of the attorneys involved.

[63Charlie]

On 7/14/2018 at 7:42 PM, Buck52 said:

A lot of it depends on how much time and work she or her office personal put into your claim??

, you should have check with her when you found out she never filed on these claims you requested (hearing loss and tinnitus) and ask her why she fail to file on them?

she may have had a plan on working your claims separate or something like that?..we don't know what all is going on...

 I was thinking Julie Glover was a Reputable Attorney  B/C  Member broncovet has used her services and seem to like her  but I don't think he uses her now  not sure why? he has Attorney Chris Attig helping him now. as I understand.

you may try to get back on her good side and apologize to her and say you were wrong  having her revoked..its hard to revoke an attorney anyway  it can be done  but with in reason and it takes a long time for the revoke to go through. it could take a year or two..so for this reason you really need to get back into her good grace. jmo

I filed that claims and the NODS for hearing loss and tinnitus.

The VA letter stating the reason for my denial of tinnitus in because I have no current diagnosis of tinnitus.

Although I told the C&P examiner I had constant ringing in my ears he never diagnosed me with tinnitus.

My medical exam when I left service shows multiple standard threshold shifts and mild hearing loss.

The VA denial letter even notes I had hearing loss in service in the denial.

No reason for my attorney to drop my appeals unless there was something the VA would concede on other appeals.

A bad experience for me no matter how you call it.

More stress and complications getting this sorted out.

But these two conditions are back on appeal now, just wonder if this will negatively impact my effective date when I am successful.

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by 63Charlie

[Buck52]

I don't think it will effect your  effective date when you win...once you file for something that is the date they should go by  or you have Dr Opinion and if it was before your filing date  then the Dr needs to mention  when it first arose or first facts found.  like if you went to a Dr 6 months before filing the claim  then if you have that Dr to mention your hearing loss was then when he tested you and give that date. that s facts found   of course its hard to get a Dr to say that  but some Docs do.  if you get a good'en.

If I was you I'd go get a private hearing test from a qualified state license audiologist that is with a ENT Dr office that uses the VA Guidelines and the CD  on the Maryland CNC Word test.. found here on hadit  or the Dr can call the VA ASK ABOUT THE CRITERIA FOR HEARING LOSS....and after your hearing test  this is when you need to mention the ringing in your ears  that it is constant and drives you crazy at night when things are quiet....you need this in your medical records   don't wait for a C&P Examiner to diagnose you for tinnitus  chances are they are not qualified anyway   unless its the VA ENT Clinic that does the C&P...

Ask the audiologist to compare the test you have and see which tested worse for your hearing. submit that as your evidence.

Mild hearing loss may get you 10%  -20% or possible 50% but to get 50% they usually use the word profound hearing loss  & 10% on the tinnitus  its always rated separate from hearing loss because hearing loss don't cause tinnitus.

 

If your already service connected at 0% for hearing loss that is the hard part  now its just a battle of the Audiologist that test you and what #'s they write down from your hearing test and word test  the lower the word test the higher the rating for hearing loss  like rated from a 1 to 100  if you get anything under a 60 I believe that good enough for a rating  the lower the # on the word test the better rating..I think the reason for this is the number of words you pro nonce  correct.  if you only pronounce 60% of your words thats not very good.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Buck52

[FormerMember]

22 hours ago, 63Charlie said:

Although I told the C&P examiner I had constant ringing in my ears he never diagnosed me with tinnitus.

 A c&p examiner is not there to diagnose you. He merely reports what he finds. As far as I know there is no Tinnitusmeter that can measure it. It's a purely subjective diagnosis. If you never mentioned it in service (tinnitus-not hearing loss), then he cannot dx it in a c&p. The VA examiner can but he didn't. Seems you need to go back to the Caluza triangle we teach here. That's the recipe for a chicken dinner winner. I hope you took your military medrecs in with you to show the c&p guy. That almost always works. 

[john999]

With the hearing thing get your PCP to send you for a hearing test.  Then complain about the constant ringing in your ears.  What was your MOS in the military? Did you work around heavy machines or artillery,  tanks, infantry etc.  You know people can actually lose their hearing after just one exposure to a very loud noise.  It happened to a film director during WWII when he was very near a 155 howitzer when it was fired.  He did not know enough to cover his ears and lost 40% of his hearing permanently.  He was stone deaf for months.  You must understand these C&P doctors and your VA claims examiner are suspicious of all vets and probably are thinking you are just after a couple of bucks.