Testimonials
To Whom It May Concern:
After many attempts at hiring at attorney, & being turned down by all of them, & being told many reasons why I couldn't file, & that I would be automatically turned down twice, & that it would be probably more than a year to even get a hearing after those rejections, & even being told by one lawyer that my case wouldn't even be taken by their office UNLESS I was already turned down twice, & that I had to be pretty much destitute & homeless before I could file & many other pieces of misinformation, I had just about given up even trying for the benefits I needed so badly.
I had been working since I was 15 years old, & always supported myself & 3 children & paid into the system. Until I had a back surgery that felled me completely leaving me disabled, I had never even intended to stop working. In fact, I had had this surgery to strenghten my back so I could continue to work & support myself. My general MD told me I qualified for disability when he saw my bad result after the surgery, & I had laughed it off, because I had never even considered that. Imagine how I felt when I lost my 15 year job, & knew in my condition, at my age, in this ecomomy, that I couldn't go out & get another full time job, especially with my condition getting progressively worse, & the possibilty I would need a another surgery to fix the first failed one.
One night, I saw yet another online "See if you qualify" questionairre & for the heck of it, filled it out, telling my story in a nutshell, but in my anger & frustration spilled through, apparently. I hit send, & did not expect a response, but if I did get one, I was sure it would be another rejection. A few minutes later, I got notice that my information was assigned to an attorney's office. I looked up that office & didn't see that they focused on SSD. I immediately wrote to that office & briefly told them my story & instructed them to tell me if I had hit yet another brick wall so I could keep looking, again, not expecting a response, least of all a positive one.
At 10:30PM, a few hours after my inquiries, much to my surprise, David Klain, one of the attorneys from Social Security Defenders called me. In so many words, he explained to me that my email was quite impressive, & he had never read one worded so detailed in all of the letters he recieved, & I guess that is why he called me. I was impressed that HE would call ME, at 10:30 that very night, no less! We immediately hit it off & I had confidence in him right away. He didn't lie to me about the hassles involved with filing with SS, or about fees or anything else. I had been decieved by other attorney's who didn't reveal hidden costs until I discovered them deep in contracts. Mr. Klain told me the information I would need to submit, & we filed the claim over the telephone the next day. And I resolved to wait for weeks, maybe months to hear anything from SS.
Much to my surprise, within a week, a claim handler called me for some more small details & I verified that Mr. Klain was my attorney. She also told me that there wasn't much more she needed to start the processing of the claim, due to the way Mr. Klain was so thorough in submitting my information. I emailed Mr. Klain immediatly, & relayed my elation about that, & told him he must have some magic touch because out of ALL the claims that the agency must recieve, & in this economy, more & more people my age are filing, she was working MINE, & it would be proccessed the following week! Mr. Klain was happy to hear about this, but warned me not to expect anything except maybe a rejection anytime soon from SS. He was always realistic but not pessimistic.
About a month after that, I got a large SS questionnaire to fill out, & he gave me some advise on that, I sent it in after a week or so, because I was in so much pain, I actually delayed the proccess a bit.
It was 3 months from the time Mr. Klain called me that first night until I got my approval from SSDisability.
Mr. Klain knows how to handle Social Security claims, & which kind you qualify for. It was his attention to detail that got me approved, I am convinced of that. He made himself available to me at anytime, which I really appreciated. His personal touch in the way he called me, & the way he submits an application impressed both me, & the people at Social Security. And it's obvious that he knows what you need to submit & is honest about what to expect once it is submitted. His knowledge of how the Social Security system works is to the client's benefit as is obvious with my case. If he hadn't taken the time to read my initial contact with his office that first night, it would have been most unfortunate for me. I cannot express how grateful I am to have had him as my attorney & recommend him highly to anyone needing an excellent & caring attorney.
Sincerely,
Kathleen FlorCruz
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