February 11, 2003

State of Oregon Bar Association

RE: David B Lowry, Attorney at Law

I went to Mr. Lowry only to request information on whether I was required to be represented for disability. I was not given the opportunity to meet or talk to Mr. Lowry before I was asked to submit all the information and paperwork that I had already prepared on my own. These copies of my medical records that I picked up and paid for, letters from employers, prescription lists, etc. I was coerced to sign a paper stating that I had given them this paperwork when it was actually an agreement to pay him and do the paperwork he required, quote “without whining”.

Then I was asked to fill out multiple pages of forms that were repetitive ad not applicable to my situation or disability. Only then was I allowed to meet Mr. Lowry, for less than ten minutes. During this ten minutes, he repeated back all the questions I had just answered on the forms. When I tried to ask David Lowry questions, he would ignore them and would not answer any of my concerns, questions, or advise me of my rights. He told me to request all of my medical records and pay for them myself and then bring them to him. His office was over 60 miles from my home. After meeting him I was very uncomfortable with his attitude, methods, and lack of concern or cooperation. He was intimidating and uncommunicative. I had to ask Doyle, his assistant, any questions I had, but he could only help me with their forms.

The second time I went to Mr. Lowry’s office was for a taped interview that I was told nothing about. When I arrived I was told that he had left for the day because he’d had a bad day. At that time, Doyle told me that I had gotten the most difficult judge and that Mr. Lowry had had many altercations with him. I was very uncomfortable with that but didn’t know what to do. A few days later, I received copies of five letters of correspondence written to Judge ALJ to Mr. Lowry (referencing my case) that had nothing to do with me or my disability case. He seemed to have his own agenda. I called his office and told Doyle that I did not want to pursue this case with Mr. Lowry because of the obvious animosity that existed between Mr. Lowry and Judge ALJ Dan R. Hyatt He put me on the phone with Mrs. Lowry, who proceeded to “chew me out” about the issue and said that “it wasn’t just Mr. Lowry, but all lawyers who did not get along with Mr. ALJ Dan R. Hyatt” Her statement to me was “this judge doesn’t like any lawyer”, and she hung up on me. After that I was very disturbed about having Mr. Lowry represent me. I was having a lot of medical problems including not sleeping and stress contributed greatly to my anxiety levels and poor health.

The third and last time I met with Mr. Lowry was for the rescheduled taped interview. I told him at that time that I did not feel comfortable pursuing this with him as my representative due to the animosity between him and the Judge. He made the same statement about the Judge being difficult and temperamental (Yelling and having temper tantrums) but only with him. He started the tape and asked me the same questions as the first time I met him. He did not give me any advice or help, he refused to answer my questions. After the taping was done, he made the statement, “the Judge will excuse (recuse) himself. When he does, I want you to side with me.” I did not understand the statement, so I asked him what that meant. He just repeated it again. I left confused, frustrated and worried.

When I arrived at the hearing, Mr. David Lowry was very smug and uncommunicative. He asked me if I had anything for him? I gave him some new medical records I had picked up and paid for. He asked me again, did I have anything for him? I gave him a summary I had spent the last three nights working on of a history of my medical issues, examples of the disability and a current letter from my doctor about not being able to work. He asked me again, did I have anything else for him? I was at a loss to know what he wanted. He got disgusted with me and asked where this form was that he then waved in front of me. I told him he had never given me this form or told me that he needed it. I was very upset with him now. I asked him what my daughter would need to do. He started asking her about percentage of time I was unable to do things. She did not understand what he was trying to get at either. He treated us both like we were stupid. He would not explain anything. He shoved some papers at me and told me to “READ”. It was a poorly transcribed copy of the taped interview. I told him that I knew what it said as I had gotten a copy of it. He interrupted me and ordered me to “READ”. I tried several more times to ask him questions about the hearing and he ignored me, looked at me smugly and ordered me to “READ”. He just glared at me. I got upset and left the room with my daughter to get some water and some air. I was in high distress and in pain.

When they called us in to the hearing, he immediately got argumentative and hostile with Judge ALJ Dan R. Hyatt He started talking about some correspondence between him and some situation or person I had no connection to and how it affected him and Judge ALJ Dan R. Hyatt I did not know what I could do about his methods or his personal attack at my expense.

Judge ALJ saw my distress and asked me if I would like to dismiss Mr. Lowry. I did not know that I had that option and was relieved that I could do that. I said that I would like to pursue this case on my own since I had personally prepared all my records and medical information that was applicable to my case and I felt that Mr. Lowry had not assisted me in any way and was pursuing his own agenda and presenting unnecessary paperwork.

David Lowry was dismissed and I was sincerely relieved that he left.

During the time Mr. David Lowry was being aggressive and confrontational, Judge ALJ remained calm, understanding and patient as well as being aware of the discomfort that the confrontation was causing me. He apologized to me for the situation Mr. Lowry was creating. He tried to make Mr. Lowry aware of this, but Mr. Lowry continued his verbal confrontation regarding irrelevant issues. Judge ALJ made it clear to him that he was not dealing with the case at hand. Mr. David Lowry became angrier and at that time I was allowed to dismiss him.

David Lowry is not representing disabled people in their best interests. He uses intimidating, demanding and dismissive behavior to address people so that they feel they have no rights or choices. He is not concerned with or understanding of the actual disability that he is representing.

David Lowry expects his clients to do all the paperwork, research, and record chasing for him and expects them to complete a ton of forms to be filled out that are frivolous and unnecessary. He makes demands of people while they are in a diminished state of health, physically and emotionally, that he should be handling for them. That is why he’s paid to represent them. I do not feel that Mr. Lowry has the best interests of his clients in mind and I feel that he is taking advantage of their personal strife while they are in a diminished capacity.

I would suggest that the Bar Association investigate Mr. Lowry’s practices and personal intentions (agenda) in his representation of disabled citizens.

Sincerely,

Sherry K

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