Thank You, Bobby Scott
Goss and Fentress PLC is a well-established law firm that represents people who are having trouble obtaining their owed Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. We’ve had a rough couple of years through no fault of our own. We successfully managed to stay open, agile, and safe during the Covid-19 crisis. We continue to serve our clients with no interruption in service or customer experience. We managed to do all of this while experiencing the worst financial crisis our firm has seen in its 40-year history. Why the crisis?
Attorneys’ fees are issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA). A client who has been awarded benefits has signed a fee agreement with our firm requesting that 25% of their back award (capped at $6,000) be paid out to their attorney by SSA. That simply had not been happening beginning in September 2020 until very recently.
In October 2021 we reached out in desperation to our elected representatives. Congressman Bobby Scott was the first to respond. John Gerdes, Constituent Services Representative, listened carefully to the story of our plight and asked specific, pointed questions to help us start the process of opening a Congressional inquiry. We assembled a list of our pending fees from all field offices that were located within Congressman Scott’s district that includes Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, and submitted them to Mr. Gerdes.
With the help of Mr. Gerdes and Congressman Scott’s office corresponding with Social Security on behalf of our firm, we are beginning to see progress with our pending fees. The tide is slowly beginning to turn, as the money owed to us is trickling in. We are forever grateful to Congressman Scott and Mr. Gerdes for listening, taking us seriously, investigating this grave situation, and following through to ensure we received the help we so desperately needed. Congressman Scott’s office helped us stay in business and keep our staff employed.
Please remember Congressman Bobby Scott and his sincere willingness to advocate for his constituents the next time you are at the voting booth. He cares, and it shows. When we vote, we expect our representatives to do the job we have assigned them, and in this instance Congressman Scott and his office went above and beyond what they were asked to do. If you were to ask them about it they would say they are just doing their job. Well done, Congressman Scott and Mr. Gerdes, you helped us keep our doors open during a global pandemic and our biggest financial crisis in over 40 years.
-Juanice Thomson
