We had a great turnout for our March luncheon. Special thanks go out to Phyllis Benfield and Sean Thacker who have graciously agreed to form a Tax Committee on behalf of SCUPA. In addition, thank you to Amy Ruttgers for agreeing to chair the Social/Sunshine Committee and to Karen Hall and Melissa Gregory for chairing the Seminar Committee.
At the luncheon, it was announced that nominations for Paralegal of the Year will open at the April luncheon and will be accepted through October 15, 2012. The award will be presented at the November luncheon. The nominations form will be distributed at the April luncheon and will also be posted on the website. Now is a good time to start thinking about whom among your colleagues is an exemplary paralegal and deserves to be recognized for their contributions to the field.
The Pro Bono Committee announced that volunteers are needed for Let There Be Mom's Seek & Snap on April 15, 2012. Those interested in either volunteering to run the event or forming a SCUPA team are encouraged to contact Dorothy Huskey.
To date, 25 people have signed up to participate in HOG day. The organizers don't need a final head count for a few more weeks, so if you are interested and have not yet signed up, please contact Daysha Bonner for more information. We look forward to having a big turnout!
At the luncheon, Don Pilzer provided a great presentation on Social Security Disability claims. He outlined several of the claim issues faced today. He explained that for general disability claims, there are constant credibility issues when it comes to subjective complaints of pain. As we all know, what is extremely painful to one person is not necessarily perceived the same by another.
Mr. Pilzer indicated that the SSA has a two point test for addressing pain. First, there must be objective medical evidence that would reasonably cause a person to have pain. A doctor must observe a medical condition and report on the issue or there must be clear diagnostic lab findings to produce a diagnosis. Second, the SSA judges examine how much the pain impacts a person's life. They look at factors such as what medications are used, what medical modalities are used, what aggravating factors make things worse, and how much the pain impacts a person's ability to perform their activities of daily living. Simple complaints of pain are not enough to win a SSDI claim. The water gets a bit murkier when dealing with fibromyalgia however. Fibromyalgia is generally diagnosed when a person has global pain but no known objective cause. SSA judges are often skeptical of the condition. It is helpful if a doctor can determine trigger points on the body that increase the pain. Opinion statements from one or more doctors are often obtained in these cases to support the claim for disability.
Mr. Pilzer also touched upon mental retardation disability claims. Unlike the standards for general disability claims, the standard for mental retardation claims is often seen as exceptionally liberal. It says, "mental retardation refers to significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning with deficits in adaptive functioning initially manifesting during the developmental period; i.e., the evidence demonstrates or supports onset of the impairment before age 22." Mr. Pilzer indicated that simply having a low IQ level doesn't support a claim under this listing. Due to many factors such as poverty and access to education, a 70 IQ is not all that uncommon. The intellectual deficits must be in combination with other deficits such as communication, self care, social/interpersonal skills, and work history issues in order to support a claim for benefits.
SCUPA thanks Mr. Pilzer for taking the time to speak to us. Keep checking back here for more updates on events and other SCUPA related news!
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