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Nod & De Novo Review Vs Reconsideration

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Bonzai

Question

I have tried looking this up, but I am getting confused.

What is a De Novo Review?

What is a Request for Reconsideration?

Is a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) automatically one or the other?

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Reconsideration = you have new evidence in support of your claim that was obtained and/or was not available prior to a rater making a decision on your claim. In most cases it is quicker than if you start the appeal process. All requests for a reconsideration have to be clearly marked as such..... ie "THIS IS A REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION: based upon the evidence attached I ask that the VA review such information a reconsider their prior decision made on my claim dated blah blah blah. IF YOU DO NOT CLEARLY INDICATE THAT IT IS A REQUEST FOR A RECONSIDERATION OF YOUR PREVIOUS RATING AND YOU HAVE ATTACHED NEW EVIDENCE they will 99.9 percent of the time automaticaly consider it a disagreement and begin the appeals process (see below).

DRO/DRO de novo review = the DRO process is the begining of the APPEAL PROCESS. It is referred to as THE INFORMAL APPEALS PROCESS and allows you to receive one more look at your claim by a senior rater assigned to the appeals team before going into the formal appeals loop. It is prompted if you send in a piece of paper (any type)to the VA after you receive your rating in which you clearly state that you DISAGREE WITH THEIR DECISION. This is normally done if you have no new evidence (at the time you prepare your Notice of Disagreement) however, you feel the need to argue legal and medical points in your claim that you feel the rater did not properly consider. ie.... you feel that the rater did not consider specific guidance or law contained in CFR 38 and if he/she had they would have awarded your claim or you feel that based upon their failure you were awarded a 30 percent rating verus a 70 percent rating. Now even though you may not have had new evidence when you prepared you Notice of Disagreement that does not mean you can not submit new evidence collected by you during the process.

De novo, as has already been provided, is a legal term that simply means " a new look/review of a case without taking into consideration the previous decision". Normally when a vet submits a Notice of disagreement they will ask that it be done on a De novo basis. What this is supposed to do is take the last decision completely away from the file, give it to the senior rater and asked him to process the claim as though it was never processed (now if you think this is done then I have some bridges to sell you hahahaha). However, as you read on this site and others listen to the war stories about rubber stamped or carbon copy DRO reviews!

To your third question NO NO NO NO! A Notice of Disagreement is the start of the appeals process and will never ever be considered by the VA as a reconsideration!!! If you meet the requirements for a reconsideration then YOU BETTER MAKE SURE it is clear in your request!

If you do submit a reconsideration you have to keep in mind that all the while you are fishing and drinking beer waiting on the VA to reconsider your claim THE APPEALS TIME LINE IS TICKING and you only have 12 months to begin the appeal from the date of your decision letter. This is important in that when you ask for the reconsideration the rater may not deem such an action appropriate (remember it is for when you have new evidence that is not associated with your claims file at the time the decision was made - it is not to simply argue a point with the rater). If an when he makes a determination, which could take 6-8 months, he may not notify you. Now you are sitting there all dumb, fat and happy sucking them suds and catching catfish think the VA is gonna do you right. The next thing you know its been 13 months since you heard any thing from the VA so you call and they say "your file has been closed" and now you cry!!!!!!! What happened was whilst you was a thinking they had to see it your way, the rater never got back to look at your reconsideration or he did and was to lazy to send you even a computer generated form and now you time to appeal (Send in your notice of disagreement) has expired!@!!!!!!!!! and they closed your claim out causing you to lose possibly 3-5 years of backpay. So the moral of the story is stay active in your claim. Keep in mind that no matter what you think you have that should be reconsidered, the VA may not think so and sometimes a recon could take a while even though you hear stories of them being handled within two weeks (its possible)

The appeals process goes like this:

Vet gets rating - he has 12 months FROM THE DATE OF DECISION to submitt his notice of disagreement. The NOD begins the informal appeals process

Nod submitted and vet gets the Statement of the Case from the DRO - vet now has 60 days to file the VA Form 9 which will be attached to the SOC. This is caused the formal appeals (or the perfection of the appeal which began by the submission of the NOD) process and will get you to the BVA.

Vet gets a DECISION LETTER (not an SOC) from the BVA. - he now has 120 days to file his NOTICE OF APPEAL with the court.

Long post but I hope it helps to understand the process. If anything seems strange or don't make sense it is just my nightly meds kicking in hahahaha.

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Clown Man,

THANKS!!! Exactly what I was looking for and wondering about. I hope it helps others!

Louis

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§20.1001 Rule 1001. Filing and disposition of motion for reconsideration.

(a) Application requirements. A motion for Reconsideration must be in writing and must include the name of the veteran; the name of the claimant or appellant if other than the veteran (e.g., a veteran's survivor, a guardian, or a fiduciary appointed to receive VA benefits on an individual's behalf); the applicable Department of Veterans Affairs file number; and the date of the Board of Veterans' Appeals decision, or decisions, to be reconsidered. It must also set forth clearly and specifically the alleged obvious error, or errors, of fact or law in the applicable decision, or decisions, of the Board or other appropriate basis for requesting Reconsideration. If the applicable Board of Veterans' Appeals decision, or decisions, involved more than one issue on appeal, the motion for reconsideration must identify the specific issue, or issues, to which the motion pertains. Issues not so identified will not be considered in the disposition of the motion.

(b) Filing of motion for reconsideration. A motion for reconsideration of a prior Board of Veterans' Appeals decision may be filed at any time. Such motions must be filed at the following address: Director, Administrative Service (014), Board of Veterans' Appeals, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420.

© Disposition. The Chairman will review the sufficiency of the allegations set forth in the motion and, depending upon the decision reached, proceed as follows:

(1) Motion denied. The appellant and representative or other appropriate party will be notified if the motion is denied. The notification will include reasons why the allegations are found insufficient. This constitutes final disposition of the motion.

(2) Motion allowed. If the motion is allowed, the appellant and his or her representative, if any, will be notified. The appellant and the representative will be given a period of 60 days from the date of mailing of the letter of notification to present additional arguments or evidence. The date of mailing of the letter of notification will be presumed to be the same as the date of the letter of notification. The Chairman will assign a Reconsideration panel in accordance with §19.11 of this chapter. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 7103, 7108)

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