bluenote

Folks:

I'll give my humble two-cents because at the macro-level it's an issue of agency legitimacy whenever a claimant is misinformed about the nature of a request for reconsideration by either VSO . . . or more critically employees of the VA [which is unequivocally occurring]. As noted by many, a "request for reconsideration" will simply be processed by the RO as a new claim (in the case, denial of S/C a claim to reopen). There is a regulatory provision that can preserve the effective date of award to original date of claim on the claim to reopen, but EED before establishing service-connection is throwing the cart before the proverbial horse.

By its nature, a request to reopen requires the claimant to submit new and material evidence as an initial threshold evidentiary inquiry. Below is the general framework for what is considered "new" and "material". My principle concerns are this is not being explained to claimants when they are filing a "request for reconsideration". Moreover, I don't feel confident that veterans (most of which have never seen much of the evidence associated with the C-File) can properly assess whether a statement or document is material or new . . . not because the veteran is not smart enough or doesn't have knowledge of Title 38 but because they are emotionally involved in the claim and commonly feel that the RO simply misconstrued the nature of the evidence in the existing record.

In short, there are circumstances where its in the veteran's interest to submit a "request for reconsideration" . . . mainly because the timelines on appeal have created that scenario; however, the individual needs to be informed about the nature of the claim, what evidence would need to be submitted, and the consequences of not timely appealing a prior Rating Decision. I don't believe that the system (VSO/DVA) currently has the ability to provide that level of information.

Seth
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Material evidence means existing evidence that, by itself or when considered with previous evidence of record, relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim. New and material evidence can be neither cumulative nor redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the last prior final denial of the claim sought to be reopened, and must raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(a).