The people in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia probably thought that they were doing the right thing by retaining an attorney that had a proven track record of winning every Social Security case he touched. Unfortunately for them, as the allegations over years are now surfacing, Attorney Eric Conn man was not winning without a little help from a judge. Then Judge David Daugherty and Eric Conn are accused of bilking the Social Security Administration out of BILLIONS of dollars.
The news hit the area, via 60 Minutes, in October of 2013. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/disability-program-probe-focuses-on-attorney-judge-in-wva/ Judge Daugherty has retired, but Mr. Conn is still licensed to practice law and does so in Eastern Kentucky. The people that went to him and hired him wouldn’t have known that their attorney had, allegedly, done things like pay doctors to provide bogus reports, and now, unfortunately, all of their Social Security benefits are at risk.
A letter provided to the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys by one of the former clients shows that Social Security is now reviewing the claims handled by Conn and those doctors that dealt with him. Unfortunately, for all of those clients that Mr. Conn represented, the Social Security Administration can, and has started to review those cases.
What will happen now for these former clients? In my opinion, some cases that may have won on their own will be turned down, as those cases are going to be looked over with a microscope. Since part of their medical records will be from doctors who allegedly took money from Mr. Conn, their records will be discounted and people who may be disabled, will start losing their benefits.
In a normal case, if Social Security case is found to be ruled on incorrectly, then the person would owe the money back. However, a client can ask for a waiver of the over payment as they didn’t do anything to cause the money to have been paid out when it shouldn’t have been. That waiver doesn’t mean that they may not have to pay money back to Social Security, even though they didn’t do anything to cause the problem, other than hire a specific attorney.
Unfortunately for clients, the reality is no attorney wins every case and if someone says they do, you have to wonder how that is. If it sounds too good to be true, odds are that it is and, as with most things, it may come back you, leaving you in worse shape than when you started.