QR Partner, Vince J. Quatrini, Jr., Featured in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rise in disability claims leads to more business, competition

Monday, February 28, 2011

By Zack Needles, The Legal Intelligencer

Social Security disability attorneys across the state said they're busier than ever as the recession-spurred uptick in layoffs has caused a spike in disability claims.

But while the influx of claims has in many ways been good for business, several lawyers the Intelligencer spoke to said it has also been a cause for concern.

For one, some attorneys said they're worried about the potential fallout that could occur if and when the economy right-sizes. But attorneys in the field say the boom itself has also attracted another problem in the form of unwelcome competition from national companies -- not law firms -- that handle claims with paralegals and other nonlawyers, often from out-of-state, without telling their clients.

Unfortunately fortunate

Attorneys said the recent uptick in Social Security disability claims, while profitable for them, partially reflects the country's gloomy job market.

According to statistics on the U.S. Social Security Administration's website, the number of Social Security disability applications filed monthly pre-recession -- prior to September 2008 -- rarely reached 200,000, while the number of post-recession applications routinely topped that figure and often approached 300,000 per month.

In fact, according to the SSA's statistics, the number of monthly applications rose above 200,000 only 14 times between January 1985 and September 2008, while the number dipped below 200,000 only five times between September 2008 and January 2011.

The struggling economy has naturally led to more layoffs, and aging workers with health problems who were just managing to get by at their jobs were, unfortunately, often the first to be let go. What this means is that an increasing number of applications are being filed by people who can qualify for Social Security disability benefits, but likely would not have, felt the need to apply for them had it not been for the recession.

N. Leah Fink, a Social Security disability lawyer with Pittsburgh plaintiffs firm Kunkel & Fink, said there were "a lot of walking wounded" in the national labor force who found themselves unemployed after the economy went south.

"I think that a lot of the workers that were laid off or terminated were part of the group of folks that actually could work with some accommodations," she said.

Vincent J. Quatrini Jr., managing partner of the Greensburg-based workers' compensation and disability firm Quatrini Rafferty, offered the hypothetical example of a 50-year-old steel worker who has remained employed despite struggling with diabetes but is suddenly laid off and unable to find work elsewhere.

"Those are the kinds of people that are now applying for Social Security disability who would have still been in the labor market for several years," he said.

Will the bubble burst?

Eric A. Shore, managing attorney of Social Security disability firm the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore in Philadelphia, said he's seen a "very significant increase" in business over the past three years but admitted he's worried about what might happen to that work when the job market improves.

"I'm afraid of how the pick up in the economy is going to affect us, that's why we opened a personal injury department," he said.

Mr. Shore said he anticipates hiring will improve over the next year, which could possibly even cost him some of his existing clients. "The lifespan of a Social Security case is two years," he explained. "I may have clients ready for a hearing in two years who call me and say, 'Hey thanks for your help, but I don't need this anymore because I was able to get a job.'"

Not all lawyers shared Mr. Shore's apprehension about the future.

Gregory T. Kunkel, also of Kunkel & Fink, said he's not concerned about a dramatic dropoff in business because the aging baby boomer generation is likely to keep up the flow of applications well into the future.

"We have more and more people in that age group," Mr. Kunkel said. "Regardless of the economy, there will still be a large number of disability applications."

Invasion of the nonlawyers

Ms. Fink said a more pressing concern for Social Security disability attorneys is the increased competition they face from national companies that hold themselves out as law firms but routinely send paralegals and other nonlawyers to represent applicants at hearings.

While it's legal for nonlawyers to attend these hearings, Ms. Fink alleged these companies are often less than forthright with clients who believe they're paying for legal representation. Many times, she said, the clients are also unaware that their representative is from out-of-state.

Mr. Quatrini agreed there is a problem with national competitors providing substandard representation to disabled clients. "They get a whole bunch of cases scheduled for one day and they fly in and then fly out of town again," he said. "They haven't met these people, they haven't figured out how they're going to be as witnesses and they haven't prepared them for this emotional day of a hearing."

Zack Needles: zneedles@alm.com or 215-557-2493. To read more articles like this, visit www.thelegalintelligencer.com.

QuatriniRafferty plans to add offices in Downtown Pittsburgh, Latrobe

Premium content from Pittsburgh Business Times - by Patty Tascarella

Date: Friday, January 28, 2011, 6:00am EST

Greensburg-based law firm QuatriniRafferty is expanding for the first time in its 24-year history, opening a Downtown Pittsburgh office in the second quarter and a Latrobe site by early February.

QuatriniRafferty purchased residential space for both — prices weren’t disclosed — but initially won’t be hiring. The offices will be used by existing personnel, said Managing Partner Vince Quatrini.

David DeRose, who specializes in estate law, wills and real estate, will split time between the Greensburg and Latrobe offices. The Pittsburgh office, at 941 Penn Ave., will be home base to Michael Quatrini, Quatrini’s son, who specializes in workers compensation, Social Security disability and veterans disability, all strong growth areas for the firm.

“I like the energy of the city and the close access to the administrative offices where we have our hearings,” Vince Quatrini said.

Other lawyers on staff will use the two newest sites as needed. The firm expects to add secretaries, paralegals and lawyers at both sites starting in 2012, Vince Quatrini said, but couldn’t say how many. All told, QuatriniRafferty employs 33.

QuatriniRafferty can capitalize on better real estate prices and the availability of new and experienced lawyers due to hiring slowdowns at the city’s largest firms in recent years. But the expansion is chiefly driven by the firm’s desire to “provide face-to-face contact with clients,” Vince Quatrini said.

An outlying firm setting up shop in the city is a rarity, said Lori Carpenter, president of Downtown-based recruitment firm Carpenter Legal Search. She couldn’t recall an example in recent years.

“Normally, it’s in the other direction, with a firm based in Pittsburgh looking to the outlying areas,” Carpenter said.

Robert Denney, president of Wayne, Pa.-based consultancy Robert Denney Associates, said QuatriniRafferty’s strategy “makes sense,” but he believes the firm is bucking the national mainstream.

“They’re running counter,” Denney said. “They’re the only firm I’m aware of that’s doing this. Other firms taking advantage of real estate would be redoing the lease or moving to a newer building, not buying in a city’s business district.”

Regardless, QuatriniRafferty has ample room to grow. The space — 2,400 square feet in Pittsburgh and 3,400 square feet in Latrobe — is “huge for one lawyer” to start, Denney said. “The average space today per lawyer has been whittled down to below 600 square feet.”

Why Does My Neighbor Get Disability and I Can't?

By Tereasa Rerko, Esq.


We are often asked to explain to clients why they don’t financially qualify for disability benefits, even though they worked most of their lives. A client might see a neighbor receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration, and that neighbor never worked. What the client may not realize is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits to qualified individuals both with and without a work history.

The neighbor is probably receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits (SSI), which are benefits for disabled individuals without a current work history. In order to receive SSI benefits, a person must not only be disabled under the SSA rules, but must also meet extra guidelines regarding income and assets. These guidelines are very strict regarding maximum monthly income and total assets. If those guidelines are exceeded, the person will not be eligible to receive SSI benefits - even if they are disabled. Also, SSI benefit amounts are generally the same for every person who receives them.

On the other hand, Social Security Disability benefits (SSD) are based upon your own personal lifetime earnings record and your ability to show that you are disabled within a certain time frame. This time frame typically expires five years from when you last worked, although you need to have made enough money in past calendar quarters as well. (You might compare it to unemployment compensation, where you need to earn at least a minimum amount of income in the correct calendar quarters or you won’t qualify for unemployment benefits even if you lose your job.) The amount of SSD benefits that a person may receive is based completely upon that person’s earnings history and, like snowflakes, no two are alike. Suffice it to say, most monthly SSD payments are much higher than the SSI monthly benefit.

The one thing that both SSD and SSI do share is the set of rules that SSA uses to decide if you are indeed disabled. The rules are exactly the same for both programs. Generally speaking, in order to qualify as "disabled" under the rules of SSA, a person must be unable to perform the duties of their past occupations and also the duties of any other occupation that exists in the national economy.

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Veterans Administration to Reopen Gulf War Illness Claims

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department (VA) announced that it will be re-examining veterans’ disability claims for thousands of Gulf War veterans in the coming years.

According to a Congressional report in 2008, approximately 175,000 to 210,000 Gulf War veterans experience a pattern of symptoms that include rashes, joint and muscle pain, sleep issues and gastrointestinal problems. This is known collectively as Gulf War Illness. While the actual cause of the problems is unclear, independent studies have focused on pesticides and pyridostigmine bromide pills, which were provided to troops for protection against possible nerve agents from Iraqi troops. A study by the Gulf War Veterans’ Illness Task Force is near completion and will hopefully shed more light on not only the cause but also treatment for this illness.

To accomplish the re-examination of claims, the VA first plans to review its own regulations to better accommodate the Gulf War Illness syndrome. Once the VA completes this review, veterans will then be invited to have rejected claims reconsidered.

Re-examination of claims, better health care services, and the reduction of the veterans’ claims backlog have been priorities of the Obama Administration. The Administration recently announced a $125 billion budget next year for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

To have attornys Michael V. Quatrini or Brian Patrick Bronson evaluate your Veterans' Disability Claim, contact our Greensburg or Latrobe office at 1-888-288-9748 or at our website www.qrlegal.com.


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U.S. Veterans Administration Eases Rules for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

In a monumental policy shift, the U.S. Veterans Administration published new regulations for the compensation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD as it is commonly known, is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon among war Veterans. Symptoms of PTSD can include, but are not limited to, recurrent thoughts of a traumatic event, reduced involvement in work or outside interests, emotional numbing, hyper-alertness, anxiety and irritability.

Prior to the rule chance Veterans had to pinpoint the "stressor" that caused their stress disorder, and, needed to produce evidence to corroborate that the stressor occurred. Claims adjudicators working for the VA were then forced to to corroborate that the non-combat Veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile military activity. This exhaustive research took a great deal of time and added to the already slow claims process.

With the rule change Veterans are no longer required to produce evidence corroborating the stressor if a VA doctor confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a Veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor.

According to the guidelines set by the Veterans Administration the new rules will apply to claims:

• received by VA on or after July 13, 2010;
• to received before July 13, 2010 but not yet decided by a VA regional office;
• to appealed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals on or after July 13, 2010;
• to appealed to the Board before July 13, 2010, but not yet decided by the Board; and
• pending before VA on or after July 13, 2010, because the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims vacated a Board decision and remanded for re-adjudication

The new rules, which were developed in response to recent scientific studies linking a Veteran’s deployment in a war zone to an increased risk of PTSD, are being hailed as a major step forward for Veterans.

For an official list of Questions and Answers on the new regulations, please visit the link to the Veterans Administration website below:

http://www.va.gov/PTSD_QA.pdf

Quatrini Rafferty will continue to analyze the new regulations and any other guidance from the VA as it becomes available.

- Quatrini Rafferty -

Book Co-Authored by Vincent J. Quatrini, Jr. named a "Best Buy"

The Pennsylvania Bar Institute recently named "Workers' Compensation: Practice and Procedure" one of its "Best Buys" for 2010. Vince Quatrini has co-authored the book, which is known informally amount workers' compesation attorneys and judges as the "Bible" for anaylsis of caselaw and regulations, for 20 years.

The book has been previously honored as "Outstanding Achievement in Best Programs" in 1999 and "Professional Excellence in Technology" in 2000 by the Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA).

http://www.pbi.org/publications/bestbuybooks.html

For more on Vince and the Workers' Compensation Department at Quatrini Rafferty, please visit our website at http://www.qrglaw.com/ or contact us by phone at 1-888-288-9748.

- Quatrini Rafferty -

Your Disability Benefit: It Is What It Is

The following article was authored by Quatrini Rafferty attorney A. Tereasa Rerko and originally published in our newsletter, the Legal Update.

Quite often, I am asked how much monthly income a person will receive if they are approved for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits. My answer is always, "It depends." What it depends upon is your individual earnings history. Monthly SSD benefits are similar to snowflakes: no two are exactly alike. Even if your neighbor or relative is working for the same employer and making similar wages, the calculation of your SSD benefits may not be the same.

SSD benefits are calculated using your unique work history, which includes your earnings for all jobs that you have worked during your lifetime. At the time you are determined to meet the disability requirements of SSD, your benefits will be computed using that work history. The Social Security Administration (SSA) looks at not only how much was earned, but when the income was earned. That income is then subjected to a complex formula to calculate your disability benefit amount.

It is always a good idea to check your earnings history on file with the SSA for accuracy. As long as your earnings history recorded by the SSA is correct, there is really no way to increase the monthly disability benefit amount. However, if your earnings history is not complete or accurate, then the calculations used to determine your monthly benefit amount will be incorrect. We suggest that you make any corrections to that record as soon as possible. To obtain a copy of the earnings record that SSA has on file, a simple request form needs to be completed. To obtain that form, contact your local SSA office, go to http://ssa.gov/, or contact our office.

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Tribune Democrat: School Closure Hearing Delayed

GREENSBURG — A hearing scheduled today in the ongoing battle over a school near New Florence has been canceled.

The hearing – on the preliminary objections filed by Ligonier Valley School District in response to a lawsuit by a citizens group seeking to keep the school open – had been scheduled in Westmoreland County Court before Judge Gary P. Caruso. The citizens group, Save Our Rams Education, filed a lawsuit against the district in May.SORE is seeking an injunction to block the planned closure of Laurel Valley Middle-High School. The district plans to send those students to its other middle and high schools in Ligonier in the fall.

One of the objections the district had was that the lawsuit did not contain enough details, said district Solicitor Dennis Rafferty. The citizens group filed an amended complaint that contains more details, putting a halt to today’s hearing and causing the process to start over again, he said.

The school district believes the amended lawsuit still doesn’t contain enough details and expects to file another preliminary objection, Rafferty said. A hearing on the objections probably will be held in July, he said.Judge Gary P. Caruso has scheduled Aug. 2 and 3 as the dates for the hearing on the injunction request.

http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x657339812/School-closure-hearing-delayed

QR Partner Dennis B. Rafferty Quoted in the Tribune Democrat

School hearing slated

Citizens group, district at odds over Laurel Valley closing

Frank Sojak fsojak@tribdem.com

GREENSBURG — A Westmoreland County judge has scheduled a hearing June 22 on the preliminary objections the Ligonier Valley School District has filed in response to a lawsuit by a citizens group seeking an injunction to block the closure of the Laurel Valley Middle-High School near New Florence.

Dennis Rafferty, school district solicitor, filed the objections Tuesday at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg.

On May 10, the citizens groups, Save Our Rams Education, filed a lawsuit that asks a judge to overturn the board’s April 19 decision to close the school.

Rafferty said the hearing on the objections was scheduled for 2:45 p.m. before Judge Gary P. Caruso.

If the case is not settled then, the judge scheduled Aug. 2 and 3 as the dates for the hearing on the injunction, he said.

Rafferty said he will be assisted at the court proceedings by the Pittsburgh law firm of Anderson and Price, whose services were obtained through the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

The citizens group is being represented by Gary J. Matta, a Pittsburgh lawyer.

Rafferty said one of the preliminary objections is that the district should not be prevented from closing the school.

Another objection is that in addition to the school district, the lawsuit

names all board members who voted

to close the school and the superintendent.

“We’re contending that they should not be named in the suit because they have immunity under Pennsylvania law,” Rafferty said.

No other points are being addressed specifically, he said.

One of the points being raised by the citizens group in the lawsuit is that students will be forced to undergo long and arduous bus trips over dangerous roadways.

Rafferty said that Pennsylvania law says that school boards can make decisions on closing schools so long as they take all relevant factors into consideration.

So even though there is no question that there will be long bus rides, the bus rides were

factors that were taken into

consideration by the board, he said.

“In spite of that, they still felt it was in the best interest of the district and taxpayers to close the school,” he said.

Another point raised in the lawsuit is that sending Laurel Valley middle and high school students to the Ligonier Valley Middle School and Ligonier Valley High School will create serious overcrowding.

Rafferty said the same analysis for the bus rides applies to each point the citizens group raises in the lawsuit.

Dennis B. Rafferty Featured in Pittsburgh Tribune Review Article

By Jewels Phraner
LIGONIER ECHO
Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Westmoreland County judge will hear arguments June 22 in a case involving the decision to close Laurel Valley Middle/High School.

The Ligonier Valley school board voted 8-1 in April to close the complex in the northern end of the district.

Shortly after the decision, 13 district residents filed a complaint against the district, the eight board members who voted in favor of the plan and Superintendent Christine Oldham. Director Victor Sansing voted against the closing.

District Solicitor Dennis Rafferty said the hearing is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. before Judge Gary P. Caruso.

If the case is not decided at that time, an injunction hearing is scheduled Aug. 2 and 3, he said.

The citizens' complaint alleges the school board acted illegally and violated public trust. It also alleges the decision to close the school was arbitrary, capricious, done in bad faith and "motivated by reasons unrelated to providing quality education."

The citizens are represented by Pittsburgh attorney Gary Matta.

Rafferty will represent the district, along with attorneys John Smart and Lee Price of Pittsburgh's Andrews & Price. Rafferty said Smart and Price's services were obtained through the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

The district responded to the complaint June 1, arguing that the plaintiffs do not meet the burden of proof established in previous court cases.

According to the district's response, courts historically have chosen not to interfere with decisions of governmental bodies unless officials have acted in bad faith, abused their power or acted capriciously or fraudulently.

The district's decision to close the school is neither arbitrary nor capricious, Smart contended.

"Arbitrariness and caprice are not to be confused with bona fide differences of opinion, allegedly unwise acts or asserted mistakes in judgments," the district said in its response.

Residents opposing the closure filed for an injunction that would stop the district from moving forward with the closure.

The group says that unless the district stops proceeding with the plan to move Laurel Valley students in grades six to eight to Ligonier Valley Middle and students in grades nine to 12 to Ligonier Valley High schools, the district will cause "immediate and irreparable harm."

The district argued that no such injunction is required.

"To the contrary, (the district) will suffer harm if the preliminary injunction is granted," Smart stated in his response.