Frank Maldonado

Review of Catania and Catania P.A.

I have sat in a lot of courtrooms and watched cour...

I have sat in a lot of courtrooms and watched court proceedings from the Scarsdale diet doctor in the 80s until present time. I have even sat through military court proceedings from murder to drug traffickers. I also have a legal degree. No I m not an Attorney. But, I have a good idea how things work in a courthouse.
My attorney for social Security disability benefits was so unprepared for what happened in court the judge had her shaking! She was fumbling through paperwork tongue tied on every question the judge asked. The judge, I am convinced the judge has it in for veterans! She thinks it s like double dipping if a veterans to get both VA benefits and disability benefits from Social Security, so she constantly denies close to 70% of anybody that comes before her! But my attorney was NOT ready for what happened in court. And she is the only social Security Attorney at Catania & Catania! She tried to prepared herself for court the night before and day of when she had all my information and medical records for over one year. I think she was overwhelmed by the amount of medical documentation I submitted to her! Some attorneys would love to have all that proof to show the judge. She did not use a mountain of evidence I submitted to her over our time together! My case was also delayed because she blocked out a leave time to get married! The only reason my case went before the judge sooner than later was because I called the court house and they said its not us its your lawyer who blocked out two months that she would not be available. I later found out that it was her wedding leave. So, I called and spoke to Peter C, I guess he fixed the situation and I had a court date within 90 days. All the attorneys mislead me during this process. I thought they were working on the case! And if they were why was I asked questions about surgeries 20 minutes before we saw the judge. After my case was denied by the Tampa judge it went to The Virginia court of appeals and again it was denied. During this time I lowered my rating for Catania & Catania to one star and I got several email from my attorney and the paralegal, saying if your not happy with my services your free to go seek other representation. And she said this before the appeal to Virginia Court of Appeals. So, my attorney and her paralegal prompted my wife to change my rating back to five stars. So, my wife change the rating back to five stars! I changed it back to one star to show my discontent with unprepared bumbling attorneys at this firm! If your Social Security case needs an attorney I would look elsewhere. This is the most unprofessional law firm I ve ever had the unpleasure of knowing! When attorneys have a case and you re unhappy with them during appeal you are stuck, it would be more difficult to get a new attorney at that point. As soon as it was out of her hands we elected to use a different attorney also because they do not go to federal court. The funny thing is the day we walked out of court in Tampa I told her we lost!I knew the process in that court room better than she did! You have to have an instinct that guides you to making better choices. And prior to the appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals I told her we lost because of her wording and we lost! So, she knew all along we were going to lose because I actually told her we were going to lose! If the client knows that they are going to lose it s because of the poor job the attorney did! I did fine out from other attorneys that know this judge and they said she is the worst judge to get assigned too. The attorney should have a better understanding of the laws and how they work!
Last thing was all the other attorneys I spoke to about this case, they said if she was the type of person that was intimidated she would have never beat the judge. it was like putting a pitbull in with a Chihuahua and I m not talking about a pitbull that scared of a Chihuahua I m talking about a pitbull that would swallow Chihuahua!