Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Link of the Day - Texas Workers' Compensation Commission

There is currently legislation pending to do away with the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission, but at least for now, the TWCC has quite a bit of workers' comp information online, both for employees and for employers.

Google Print Now in Beta Testing

The exciting Google Print site is now in open beta testing. Type in search terms as normal, and you get a list of books Google thinks is appropriate. (Is it a little odd that I now consider what Google does as "thinking"?) You can read limited parts of each book, make searches within the book, and find links to sites where you can buy the book online.

For those of us with a book-buying addiction, this has to be bad news. For those with more self-control, this will be a great tool. 

Link of the Day - Texas County and District Clerk Addresses and Phone Numbers

The Texas Department of State Health Services maintains a list of addresses and phone numbers for all Texas County and District Clerks.

Google Toolbar 3.0

Google has a new update to its great Toolbar. There are "effective, albeit minor" improvements, according to a review at pcmag.com. I've used the Google toolbar from the beginning, and will update quickly.

Google has been busy lately, with the new toolbar coming right behind the new personalized Google portal. I say keep 'em coming Google!

Link of the Day - Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism

The Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism is "...organized for the purposes of promoting and enhancing ethics, professionalism and civility among the state's lawyers. It is a learning center, a resource center, and a mobilization center for the lawyers and people of Texas."

The site has good online resources for lawyers with ethics questions. I'm a member, and I recommend membership to other Texas lawyers.

Priscilla Owen Confirmed by Senate

Justice Priscilla R. Owen has been confirmed for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court in a 56-43 vote today in the U.S. Senate. The good news is that she will now be leaving the Texas Supreme Court. The bad news is that Governor Rick Perry will try to find a replacement who is even more conservative than Justice Owen.

Link of the Day - Most Popular Baby Names

Wonder what the most popular names for babies were last year? For the year you were born? For 1880? Our tax dollars provide this information, courtesy of the Social Security Administration. Maybe not the best use of our taxes, but definitely interesting.

Link of the Day - Merriam Webster Online

One of the best online dictionary and thesaurus sites is Merriam Webster Online. Most people would be so much better off if they would take a few seconds to look up the spelling of words they aren't sure how to spell correctly. Of course, most people think they do know how to spell those words, so they don't bother to check.

Link of the Day - Measurement Conversions

Convert-Me is a simple site for converting any type of measurement from one unit to another. Simple, but very useful.

Social Security Disability Determinations

The Disability Determinations for fiscal year 2004 have been released by the Social Security Administration, and are little changed from fiscal year 2003.

At the Initial level, 37% of disability claims were allowed, and 63% denied. After the denied claims were appealled to the Reconsideration level, 14% were allowed, and 86% denied. When those denied claims were appealed to the Administrative Law Judge level, 62% were allowed, 13% dismissed, and 25% denied. Upon appeal to the Appeals Council, 2% were allowed, 2% dismissed, 26% remanded to the ALJ level, and 70% denied. Only a relatively small number of cases were appealed to Federal Court, where 6% were allowed, 7% dismissed, 46% remanded, and 41% denied.

This shows, again, that it is worthwhile to appeal an initial denial of a Social Security disability claim. What the statistics do not show is the greater chance of a successful appeal with legal representation.