Around November I met with Mr. Lentz, who at the time was with Garces and Grabler Law Firm, regarding appealing the onset date of my Social Security disability claim. I specifically asked him if I could lose my benefits should I follow through with the appeal and his exact words were "no, you can't lose your benefits, you're just appealing the onset date." Unfortunately I found out the hard way that this was not correct.
I decided to retain Mr. Lentz because of his knowledge of Lyme disease, however I was advised that my case was being handled by another attorney, Mr. A. Suarez, however, I was still under the impression that Mr. Lentz would represent me at the hearing. What happened with Mr. Suarez is the subject of another report and resulted in my benefits being taken away. I asked Mr. Lentz to handle my appeal and he represented to me that he would. I found out a year later that the appeal was never filed and in fact my entire file was missing.
Mr. Lentz failed to inform me that I could have filed to keep my benefits through the appeals process, and because of that, I have had no income during this entire time.
Mr. Lentz forwarded a certification to Social Security regarding this matter and the Appeals Court. Mr. Lentz asserted malpractice on Mr. Suarez' behalf in this certification. The Court overturned the Judge's decision and ordered a new hearing. Mr. Lentz assured me that he would be prepared for this hearing and should it still be an unfavorable outcome, he would represent me throughout the entire process: until I got my benefits back, or until there was no further remedy. Mr. Lentz assured me of this on many, many occasions. Even up to his last e-mail to me, Mr. Lentz always maintained his belief that I am truly disabled and unable to work.
New hearings were scheduled a couple of times, and unbeknownst to me until a later date, Mr. Lentz adjourned these hearings even knowing how dire my financial situation. I also found out that the hearing would be with the same judge and thought this was completely unfair and advised Mr. Lentz of this, however, nothing was done about it and I did later find out that I could have filed a complaint about this judge which Mr. Lentz did not advise me.
The second hearing was on November. I received the report from the judge denying my benefits in May. Mr. Lentz advised me that he believed the Judge was completely wrong in denying my benefits. He was very angry and told me that he believed the Judge did not follow the law in this matter.
In late July of Mr. Lentz filed what I believe was a form with Social Security advising that we were appealing this matter. The form was filed just under the 60 day.in the following days, Mr. Lentz assured me that everything was on track and he would be following up shortly with an extensive brief appealing the matter. Mr. Lentz advised me that he did not file the brief within the 60 days because he needed more time to do so. As I pressured Mr. Lentz to file this brief, he then advised me that he needed the transcript of the hearing. I'm not sure exactly when Mr. Lentz requested this transcript as, as I have said, Mr. Lentz never provided me with copies of anything regarding my case. Mr. Lentz received this transcript I believe in February and then told me he couldn't file the brief until he received the transcript of the first hearing. I did not understand this as the first hearing was obviously already ruled on, thus the second hearing. I asked him if he could file the brief and request that if necessary after receipt of the transcript of the first hearing he could amend it but he did not respond to this. I'm not sure when Mr. Lentz received the tape of the first hearing because when I questioned him on this in June, he told me that he had already received it.in mid August Mr. Lentz informed me that the brief would be completed in five days. It is almost November and Mr. Lentz has not yet filed the appellate brief in this matter.
Mr. Lentz is no longer communicating with me and will not answer my telephone calls or e-mails and he has stated to my friend that he is not making any money on my case, he is tired of the tone of my e-mails, and that it is not worth it for him to represent me any longer. Mr. Lentz did state to me time and time again that he wasn't making any money on my case. I feel that the reason I lost my benefits in the first place is because of negligence, misrepresentation, error and malpractice (even according to Mr. Lentz). Mr. Lentz has not adhered to the guidelines of representation set forth by Social Security.
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