Rachel K. Fitzgerald

I hoped my nightmare with Atty Fitzgerald ended 11/2017 when she voluntarily withdrew from my case but she is still haunting my case to this day by substantially delaying my benefits with false fee claims that the judge ruled against over eight months ago. Know that if you hire her and she loses (whi...ch is quite likely since she will quite early on) she will always be part of your case and delay your entitlements as long as possible. In June 2016, I hired Atty Fitzgerald to represent me in an SSDI claim and specifically asked her if he handled appeals and federal court, she said yes. She also suggested that I linger in the hallway to overhear some of her other clients hearings so I would know what to expect at my hearing. A week prior to my hearing in 2017, the jugde's office contacted me asking about missing records which Atty Fitzgerald had but didn't submit. When I inquired with her staff about the missing records they told me not to worry about it and she wold take care of it at the hearing. Minutes prior to my hearing (which she was 15 minutes late) she asked if I would accept her withdraw as she wansn't prepared. The judge denied her request and ruled my case unfavorable. Atty Fitzgerald imediately sent me a letter withdawing from my case although she "believed it had merit with the Appeals Counsel" and included other attorneys that might assist me further. Fast forward to 6/2019, my new attorney won in both federal court and a remand hearing at which point Atty Fitzgerald filed a fee petition for 25% of my back pay (which at that point was substantial since she tanked my original hearing and it took three years to resolve). The judge denied her fee petition for several reasons, most importantly that she volunitarily withdrew as such SSA had no authority to pay. Further more her billing was "frivolous and excessive". He outlined that she could take me to small claims court for the minimal reasonable charges, but she didn't do that she appealed to the federal level. In a nutshell, had she done her job right the first time she would have been awarded fairly roughly 4k............but she tanked it and bailed out leaving me scrambling for another three years fighting for benefits and once I became entitled to them, all the while she was a ghost, she froze them up for over nine months preventing both my current attorney who legitimately should get paid and me hanging dry...........this matters on a moral level but also on a housing level as well. How many of us need these benefits and while the SSA takes long, this attorney in particular makes the process longer. See it's clear that she makes more money the longer the claim is in process since she gets a percentage of the back-pay, so it's obvious that she will sabatoge a case early then let another fight for it, only to shark back later to drink the blood which she could have prevented in the first place........but why would she when the system allows her to maliciously manipulate it? She has zero regard for clients nor the taxpayers, her only favorable reviews are for LTD............do not hire her for SSA or SSDI claims. Further, I know from being contacted by the State Bar that I am not the only one to suffer her immoral negligence, but she's good about hiding reviews and reaching out for five star ratings. So I hope this one isn't censored as many others have been.