Daniel Bernath, who used to be an attorney representing Social Security disability claimants, has died in a plane crash. Take a look at this old post on this blog. Bernath had threatened to sue me for libel if I didn't make that correction! To give you an idea of what he was like take a look at this old blog post as well as this one. I had great sympathy for the Administrative Law Judges who had to cope with such an obnoxious person. I don't understand how anyone comes to be like Bernath.
People who meet listings often somehow make livings while not collecting disability. I suspect Mr. Bernath met listing 12.08.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable to read the craziness in the links but wow, what a lunatic.
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of full disclosure, the ALJ who appeared to have the most trouble with the deceased was certainly a little troubled himself. He was suspended (for TWO whole days- which I guess is what former Chief Judge Bice, an ethical paradigm if she was to be believed, thought was appropriate) for ass-grabbing in his office. See MSPB Case no CB-7521-13-0186-T-1. Methinks these two legal titans orbited a common gravitational center of egomaniacal dysfunction, and ultimately collided when their respective heads just got too fat.
ReplyDelete"Methinks these two legal titans orbited a common gravitational center of egomaniacal dysfunction, and ultimately collided when their respective heads just got too fat." A fantastic metaphor! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThe ALJ who Mr. Bernath most "conflicted" with, has since left the ALJ corps and now represents claimants at the same OHO at which the ALJ once served.
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