Success Stories
By: Source: AARP Foundation Date Posted: 2006-02-13
Please note that each case is different. The verdicts, rulings or settlements described on this Web site do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case. No law office wins all of its cases, and LCE is no exception. However, our clients tell us that knowing we have obtained positive results for others, by settlement, ruling or jury verdict, is an important consideration in deciding to seek assistance from our organization. We would be happy to discuss these cases and many more with you at your request.
D.C. Long Term Care Ombudsman
A Long Term Care Ombudsman advocated on behalf of two nursing home residents who suffered from such poor care that their families sued and negotiated large settlements against the nursing home. The ombudsman gathered evidence showing that these residents suffered from untreated bedsores, infections, malnutrition, and dehydration leading to numerous hospitalizations and, eventually, to death. Insufficient nursing home staff and altered residents’ records were important factors in these cases.
Alternatives to Landlord/Tenant Court Project
A resident manager referred a 74-year-old client who was being sued for nonpayment of rent. He knew about our Alternatives to Landlord/Tenant Court Project which identifies at risk older people and seeks to protect them from eviction. A neighbor was helping the client with bill payment since 1994, and many checks were not credited correctly to client’s account. When all of the checks were traced and properly credited, it was determined that the landlord owed the client $116.57. The client was cleared of the $3,441.57 alleged arrearage, and is no longer under threat of eviction.
D.C. Law Office
Because of the government pension offset rule, one client was faced with a Social Security overpayment of $59,000. The client contacted LCE after the deadline for appeal had expired. LCE staff intervened, had the case reopened, and successfully argued that government pension offset was inappropriately applied. The Social Security Administration ultimately agreed, awarded the client $15,000 in retroactive benefits, doubled her monthly social security check and refunded her recouped monies.
D.C. Law Office
LCE has assisted a number of clients scammed by a con artist who identifies older people threatened with foreclosure. The con man promises to save their homes by paying off their mortgage and then having the victims pay him directly as part of the scheme. The clients unknowingly sign over deeds to their properties to his partnership. He then sells the property through "straw man" investors and eventually cashes out all the equity in the home. LCE pursued this man through bankruptcy court, where the trustee of bankruptcy court refused to allow him to bankrupt his debts due to his pattern of frauds. LCE is also defending the clients against eviction, pursuing a quiet title action and attempting to obtain monetary damages.
D.C. Law Office
An elderly low-income client was pressured into purchasing a casket and vault from a funeral home. She paid a $500 deposit and signed a sales agreement to pay the remainder on an installment plan at 11.9 percent interest. The LCE attorney voided the contract and the client received her $500 back. This saved the client $5,406.
D.C. Law Office
A 66-year-old client’s wages were attached based on a foreign judgment for $48,179.03 granted in Maryland. Upon research, the LCE attorney concluded that the Maryland court never had jurisdiction and thus a writ of attachment issued on that foreign order was invalid. The attorney filed a motion to quash the writ of attachment, return the attached wages, set aside judgment and dismiss the case (with prejudice) for failure to provide notice to defendant. The motion was granted by the judge saving the client $48,179.03.
Senior Medicare Error Patrol Project
An elderly D.C. resident complained to the SMEPP Hotline that she was receiving Medicare Summary Notices for home visits that were never rendered from a doctor she had never seen. A review of SMEPP files indicated that the doctor the woman was complaining about had done the same thing to another woman who had also earlier called the SMEPP fraud hotline. Due to these two women's vigilance Medicare is investigating this doctor, and the system will have been saved more than $500 in these two cases alone and probably prevented many other similar situations from arising in the future.
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