1.      During my hearing on March 31, 2010 the administrative law judge wore a black robe and sat elevated from me.  The judge was Riley Atkins and he had curly black hair.

2.      He said to my lawyer “this is a case only about whether or not the time period is up and extension.  I rule that she is past that time and therefore I will rule against her.  As that is the only thing we are here for I will not take evidence about her disability.”

3.      My lawyer said, “Wait, let’s not go so fast. Let me see the Notice.  I didn’t get a copy”

4.      Atkins said, “You had the chance to look at it before.  Did you make an appointment to come and see the file?”

5.      My lawyer said, “No, let me look at it now.”

6.      Atkins then handed it to my lawyer (by handing it first to the vocational expert).

7.      After my lawyer read of the file and his long discussion with the judge my lawyer turned to me and said, “claimant…”

8.      The judge interrupted my lawyer and said, “Show some decorum.  Her name is Mrs. Johnston.”  My lawyer said that he was making the record clear after the long discussion with the judge so the record would know that he has stopped talking to the judge and was now talking to me, the Claimant.

9.      My lawyer read to himself, the Notice and my Request for Hearing before an ALJ.  He then asked me some questions and then the ALJ interrupted him again to stop him before my lawyer could complete what he was doing.

10.   My lawyer said that he was not “going to close any doors” and that he believed that because of my mental condition that there was “good cause” to extend any deadlines and to deem the Request for Hearing to be a new application at the very least.  (That was what I believed I had been doing when I wrote the Request for a Hearing-requesting a new application). 

11.   My lawyer refused to give up any of my rights and demanded that I be approved to be back on disability today.

12.   The judge said the case wasn’t “worked up” and some other things.

13.   The judge then said to me, “madam you have to go to the field office and file a new application.”

14.   My lawyer said, “She should take advice from her lawyer and not from the guy who is throwing her out of court.”

15.   Atkins then said, “Ma’am you should file a new application in Beaverton…”

16.   My lawyer then said “Don’t give my client legal advise.  I’ve already instructed you on that once. It isn’t your role.” 

17.   At all times my lawyer acted calm, professional and civil.  If he didn’t act that way then I would have had to flee him (because of my severe mental illness). My lawyer acted calm, quiet, professional and civil at all times and that was how I could attend the stressful hearing.

18.   My lawyer was not loud or argumentative. He made his objection heard and then made it again as I expect a lawyer to do in a courtroom setting. 

19.   My lawyer at no time was threatening or intimidating.

20.   I then went into the lobby of ODAR with my lawyer where my husband was sitting.  My lawyer Daniel A. Bernath looked at my husband and I and said, “let’s get out of here and we’ll talk outside.”

21.   Dan then led the way, holding his black cane/crutch in his right hand, pulling his big box of books with wheels with his right hand and wearing a homburg hat.  He was looking very dashing.

22.   Dan was leading.  My husband was following him and I was following my husband when we turned the corner to the elevator lobby of the 4^th floor.

23.   I saw an old short man wearing a brown colored outfit in blue jeans with silver hair already inside an elevator.  Except for him the elevator was empty. 

24.   When we approached the elevator to get in, the old man quickly ran forward from the back of the elevator and stood at the front of the elevator and shouted “No” “You’re not riding on that elevator” “No”! 

25.   The old man alone in the elevator was very belligerent and confrontational.

26.   My lawyer did not enter the elevator because the old man blocked him.

27.   My lawyer never said a word to the old man.

28.   The man then bumped my lawyer with his chest.

29.   I saw my lawyer kind-of step back from the force of the blow but my lawyer couldn’t back up because the wheels of the box stopped him and there was me and about 4 people trying to get on the elevator and they were right behind him.

30.   The man then hit my lawyer a second time but this time with much more power and with his chest and his stomach this time.

31.   My lawyer had to work to get his balance after being knocked off his feet.

32.   The man then said “call the police.  I want him arrested for assault.  He just bumped me.”

33.   My husband Roman Johnston said in a quiet voice, “no he didn’t.  You bumped him.”

34.   The man then got a very wild look on his face and was very aggressive and said to Roman, “what’s your name!” 

35.   The man alone in the elevator became even more aggressive and offensive.  He had a very wild look in his eyes.

36.   That was the only time my lawyer spoke and he gave legal advice to his client Roman and said, “Don’t answer that.”

37.   The security guards came.

38.   That man was taken around the corner away from us.  I later found out that the old man’s name is Dan R. Hyatt.

39.   At no time did my lawyer’s hands leave the box handle or his cane/crutch.  At no time did his cane/crutch or box leave the floor.  At no time did my lawyer come in contact with that man except when that man hit my lawyer with first his chest and then with his stomach and his chest to knock my lawyer on the floor or back.  No part of my lawyer’s body entered the elevator.  Dan R. Hyatt used his chest and stomach to repeatedly batter my lawyer who stood out in the hallway.

40.   Hyatt didn’t want my lawyer in that elevator at all even though it was completely empty and even though there were 3 to 4 elevators on one side and 3 to 4 elevators on the other side of the hallway.

41.   The security guards came and blocked us from leaving and my lawyer asked “am I under arrest” and they said “no but you can’t leave.”  He said “then I’m leaving now” and tried to push the button for an elevator but they blocked him from leaving.

42.   The federal police came and they roughly grabbed my lawyer’s hands behind him and put handcuffs on him.  As they were leading him back to the Social Security Court with his hands tightly cuffed behind him I heard my lawyer say to them “on advice of counsel I have nothing to say.”

43.   The federal police asked me if I saw what happened.  They took my license information but didn’t write down what I was saying.  There was a second policeman and when they confirmed that I had made a statement then said I could leave (but could not talk to my lawyer).

44.   I haven’t left my house since that traumatic event in watching my lawyer get assaulted and battered and arrested nearly a week ago. 

45.   Seeing your lawyer get arrested is like seeing your Father get arrested and hauled away.  I trust my lawyer and it was all extremely traumatic to me to see my lawyer get beaten and then get arrested and handcuffed and taken away to who-knows-where.

46.   I am going to meet with my doctor so I can discuss the severe trauma I have suffered because I watched my lawyer get assaulted and battered by Hyatt and then arrested by 3 or 4 very large policemen.

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Elizabeth J

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Roman J (who witnessed all except for the courtroom events)