Jim,
First off, I just want to say thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to veteran’s everywhere! I have a question pertaining to private attorneys and veteran’s disability law. Is there a legal cap to what a lawyer can be paid from retroactive disability claims? I know the cap for SSDI claims is $6,000 or 25% whichever is cheaper, but I’m having a hard time finding a definitive answer about veteran’s claims and caps. Please assist if you can and thank you again for your ongoing service!
Reply:
VA sets the fee at a standard 20% of any retroactive dollars awarded. That fee is strict with few exceptions. Attorneys who have incurred travel expenses, extraordinary administrative expenses and so on may ask VA for reimbursement but they may or may not be allowed such fees.
Each VA Regional Office even has an "Attorney Fee Coordinator" office that monitors cases handled by lawyers. To my knowledge there are fewer disputes about fees than in civil cases that work on contingency.
I do hear from a few vets who tell me that they have received a reward of $150,000.00 plus or minus and suddenly they don't want the attorney to get 20%. They believe that because the lawyer wasn't properly holding their hand for the 3 years it took to resolve their case, he or she wasn't worth that much. Once a case is decided and the award is made, the veteran has 60 days to tell VA why the lawyer shouldn't get paid...or the vet can waive that right and allow the lawyer to be paid immediately.
VA usually decides those cases for the lawyer. I have yet to see a case where the attorney didn't earn the fee honestly.
I'm one of those who fought hard to have lawyers represent veterans. Prior to 2007 vets couldn't retain lawyers at all until their appeals reached the courts. Lawyers have, as I'd predicted, started to make a positive difference for us within VA. Your VA continues to unjustly delay and deny but the veteran who is represented by a lawyer comes into a more level playing field.
For more, have a look here http://www.vawatchdogtoday.org/How_To_Hire_An_Attorney.html