Social Security Initial Claim: Evidence of Motive

I sent the following brief letter to my sister some time in early 1993 about my plans to file a claim for disability benefits with the U.S. Social Security Administration. The letter makes clear that my intent was not to live on the dole, rather I was filing a claim as a litigation strategy. I had the unsubstantiated or paranoid belief that my sister faxed all my written communications back to my former employer, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. I naively believed that if Akin Gump learned that I was planning to file a claim for disability benefits the firm would feel compelled to reinstate my employment. I believed that Akin Gump's managers, as attorneys, would be aware of the serious criminal problems that would arise for the firm if I filed a claim for government benefits based on the firm's sworn declarations, which I believed were perjured. In late December 1992, I had received Akin Gump's response to my complaint filed by the firm with the D.C. Department of Human Rights.

The following letter further supports, circumstantially, that my aim in staying on SSA benefits for the last 20 years is also a litigation strategy aimed at keeping my dispute with Akin Gump alive for jurisdictional purposes.

Dear Stell,

What do you think of this idea?

I’ll go to the social Security Administration and file for social security disability benefits and state that my former employer determined on the basis of consultations with two mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, that I am too disturbed to be employable.

The Social Security Administration will then contact the firm and want to know more about this. Then what will they do?

GF