Greg Simpson is a 59-year-old disabled veteran, husband, and father living in New Castle, Delaware. Mr. Simpson was honorably discharged from the military and worked steadily until his health, unfortunately, started to deteriorate. He developed severe pain in his back, legs, and feet due to a degenerative disease and arthritis, and eventually required a cane to walk.
No longer able to work and support his family, he applied for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 2014, but he was denied. After learning about Mr. Simpson’s medical history, including his many years of treatment through the VA, Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) agreed to represent him and help him navigate the complex Social Security appeals process. It took three years for Mr. Simpson’s case to make its way through a series of appeals until he finally had a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge in late 2017. The judge ultimately denied the claim in the spring of 2018.
CLASI attorneys knew that Mr. Simpson was entitled to disability benefits because of his severe conditions, and they helped him appeal to the Social Security Appeals Council and then the U.S. District Court, arguing that the judge had made several legal errors in denying his claim. The federal court agreed, and it sent the case back for a new Administrative Law Judge hearing in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit soon after, and Mr. Simpson had to wait another two years for his new hearing to be scheduled. During this time, CLASI staff worked diligently to update Mr. Simpson’s case records and prepare for the hearing.
Thanks to the persistence of his CLASI attorneys, Mr. Simpson finally had his new hearing in October 2022, eight years after he first came to CLASI for assistance. The judge issued a fully favorable decision, finding that Mr. Simpson was in fact disabled and entitled to Social Security benefits back to June of 2014. Mr. Simpson and his family were awarded nearly $180,000 in retroactive disability benefits and almost $2,300 per month going forward, providing them with regular income to support themselves and meet their needs.
Without CLASI’s assistance, Mr. Simpson said he would never have been able to handle the appeals process on his own and would have been forced to give up. “When I got the decision I jumped for joy,” he told us. “I want to thank CLASI for hanging in there with me, I put my trust in you, and I am so grateful. It means so much to me that you believed in this case and believed in me.”
While Mr. Simpson’s CLASI advocates were thrilled with this victory for Mr. Simpson and his family, they also note that his case shows how broken the Social Security benefits system is today and the urgent need for reform so that it functions fairly and effectively for seniors and people with disabilities. It never should have taken eight years for Mr. Simpson to receive the disability benefits he was entitled to all along, and his story is unfortunately not unique.
This is why, in addition to individual client representation, CLASI attorneys are participating in regional and national advocacy efforts to improve Social Security policies and procedures. They are encouraged by recent actions taken by the new Social Security Administration Commissioner to begin tackling some of these issues and are committed to continued advocacy on behalf of Social Security claimants and recipients like Mr. Simpson.
Left to right: CLASI Advocacy Director John Whitelaw, CLASI Client Greg Simpson, CLASI Senior Paralegal Chris Winslow
