USCIS treating H1 extension request as 1st extension

[anonymous9]

My H1 petition was originally filed by my previous employer and when I switched to my current employer they had recaptured my absence from US and had filed a 3yr extension along with H1 transfer request. As per my company's attorney, that should be treated as my 1st H1 extension. My current H1 expired on 01/07/2013 and my attorney had filed an extension two weeks prior to the H1 expiration as my 2nd H1 extension. USCIS has sent an Intent to deny notice arguing that this is my 1st extension and is eligible for $1500 employer training fees. My attorney is absolutely sure that USCIS is wrong on this issue and has approached a Senator to help fight this issue. He also says he has proper documents from the previous filing to prove his point. I seek advice on who is correct and do we have a legal recourse if USCIS remains adamant?

Note: I work as a FTE with an American Firm and I am not into consulting. I have an approved 1-140 and after receiving NOID my attorney has now filed a 3-yr extension for the approved I-140 as a backup.