Ex-disability pay recipients get OK to appeal ousters

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Amy Jo Hicks lost her federal disability benefits because her lawyer, Eric Conn, got caught bribing doctors and judges to win approvals for his clients.

The Social Security Administration told her she had to pay back $62,000 in benefits she had received.

Conn and Hicks’ doctor, Bradley Adkins, were later sentenced to prison for the scheme. But her lawyers argued that not all the evidence compiled by her doctor was tainted, and they should have a right to rebut claims that she received benefits because of fraud. Wednesday, a federal appeals court agreed with her, ruling the Social Security Administration used an unconstitutional process to revoke benefits for hundreds of Conn’s former clients.

One of Hicks’ attorneys, Evan Smith, said she has since had her benefits restored. Wednesday’s ruling could lead to hundreds of other people getting their benefits back.

While Conn was fighting and fleeing the charges, thousands of his former clients had to defend their disability benefits in a series of hearings before administrative law judges. In those hearings, judges threw out all evidence from the doctors connected with Conn. His clients were not allowed to challenge that decision.

In its first round of hearings, the Social Security Administration reviewed benefits for 1,500 people. It revoked benefits for about 47 percent of the cases. The agency announced ths year it would review benefits for roughly 2,000 others.

It’s unclear how Wednesday’s ruling will affect those hearings.