Social Security Attorneys' are exploiting disabled clients, wasting millions in tax dollars, and causing tremendous case backlogs by delaying hearings just to increase their fees.

While greedy disability attorneys' game the system, their clients’ suffer; often completely unable to work, sometimes homeless and usually without medical care.

Through poorly written regulations a social security attorney whom we have never met has received $5,000 of my son's disability funds as legal fees for services he did not provide.

Please do not let this happen to even one more disabled person with limited resources. Sign this petition asking the Social Security Administration to require every disability attorney/representative to attend and effectively represent their client at the originally scheduled disability hearing or forfeit their fee and to uphold the disapproval of the fee agreement between Patrick Earl Hartley and Addison Hall.

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SSA attorneys' get paid a percentage of the client's back dated disability pay. The longer the processing of the benefits is delayed through hearing postponements' or ineffective representation leading to appeals, the more money the attorney makes.

One unethical yet popular tactic used by greedy disability attorneys’ is to suddenly discover a “legitimate” scheduling conflict the night before a hearing that has been scheduled for weeks. The attorney will wait until after business hours to leave a voice mail and send a fax to the hearing office knowing that the communication will go unheeded until after the hearing has begun early the next morning. The attorney may even call the client the night before and instruct them to appear at the hearing and ask that a continuous be granted due to the attorney's unexpected scheduling conflict.

If the client refuses to postpone the hearing and is awarded benefits after representing themselves, the attorney is paid anyway, even though he did not show up for the hearing. If the client refuses to postpone the hearing and is denied benefits, the attorney makes even more money on the appeal.

A second tactic used to exploit disability funds from their clients' is to provide ineffective council both during the case file processing period and at the hearing itself. In this way the awarding of benefits can be delayed, sometimes for years, thus substantially increasing the attorneys’ fees that eventually will be paid from their client's disability funds.

Patrick Earl Hartley became the representative of record of my son’s disability case on May 17, 2013 and the hearing was held 5 months later on October 31, 2013. Our only need and request was that Mr. Hartley go to the disability hearing and provide legal representation. The final preparation of the case file was completed well before Mr. Hartley became the Rep of record. Mr. Hartley declined to meet in person before the hearing stating that this was not necessary. Mr. Hartley failed to show up the morning of the hearing. We have never met Mr. Patrick E. Hartley and he provided no services whatsoever. Waiting until after business hours Mr. Hartley left a voice mail and faxed a written correspondence notifying the judge of a scheduling conflict. The hearing judge understood Mr. Hartley's devious actions and disapproved the fee agreement to ensure he did not receive payment for services he did not provide. However, poorly written SSA regulations have allowed Mr. Hartley to stake claim to a $5,000 legal fee paid with my son’s disability funds

Social Security Attorneys' are stealing disability payments from thousands of men, women, and children and wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars by delaying hearings just to increase their fees.

Sign this petition asking the Social Security Administration to require every disability attorney/representative to attend and effectively represent their client at the originally scheduled disability hearing or forfeit their fee and to uphold the disapproval of the fee agreement between Patrick Earl Hartley and Addison Hall.