NavyWife

Well done and congrats. Your hubbies a lucky man. Bravo Zulu.

Congrats.................

Big Congratulation I remember when you first started posting you would get the job done and done right. Hubby is fortunate to have someone with the tenacity, and kick ass drive as you have. Now Enjoy. ......

The new VA Secretary seems to be pro veteran and I don't believe he would tolerate retaliation against a vet by VA employees. Hopefully you will hear good news.

Again, good luck.

Did you ever send an email to Bob McDonald or Allison Hickey as suggested?

VA employees answer to them.


Robert.A.McDonald@va.gov

Allison.Hickey@va.gov

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. JMO

If you do not get a timely reply from VA Secretary McDonald, send an email to Undersecretary Hickey at:

Allison.Hickey@va.gov


She seems to be responding to more emails from vets.

Good luck to you and thank you for your service.

Thanks everyone!

Gastone: I have been 100% from Social Security since April, 2010 so we've been getting a deduction. Bad news is they only take $36,000 off the value of your home and you pay taxes on the remainder so our property tax is still $1600. Our house isn't even valued at $200,000, but that is Kentucky for you. I also took disability retirement from Kentucky State Government and they are slated to be out of money by 2017 because they "underfunded" and made some really bad investments. I'm only 62 (used to think that was OLD) so don't know what will happen when that time comes. Letter hasn't come up on ebennies yet but hoping that it will say TDIU P&T. As soon as it pops I will be getting the paperwork done to get the cards from DOD. Then I'm making the first reservations available at one of the Florida DOD owned campgrounds!

Forgottenvet: 20 yrs and claim is still open and at the BVA, UFB. That would be 1+ Ton of Retro. My friend, you have to get at least (3) Free Legal Consults regarding your appeal. If any of the VA Accredited Appeals Attorneys think you have a case, you might want to seriously consider giving up the 20% of your potential LARGE Retro Award and get this claim put to bed. You can always decide to continue Pro Se, but that doesn't appear to have worked out for you so far. At the very least, a VA Appeals Attorney not wanting to sign on for the huge pay day will give you an idea of how strong your case is. Good Luck, hope this works out for you.


Merry Christmas

Semper Fi

Gastone

Am I understanding correctly that this same appeal has been bouncing back and forth between the Board and the RO for two decades? You need to get a Board decision, up or down, and assuming it's a denial, get it out of there and on to the Court of Veterans Appeals. A writ of mandamus petition may be in order. You can do it yourself for $50 and a letter, but I strongly encourage you to seek out a veterans law attorney who will help you present your circumstances in professional terms. If you have one now, why is he/she not doing anything about that 20 year ping pong game you're engaged in with the Board?

What very often happens in a writ petition is that the Veterans Court will require the VA to respond to your complaint, the VA will have to explain itself to the Court, then be put on the spot to act on your appeal and you'll lose the writ as moot, but it has in truth served its purpose -- getting some action accomplished. It may not be the decision you want, but at least you'll be able to file a Court appeal, which gets it out of the Board, out of the VA system and into the Justice (U.S. Courts) system.

I'd love to hear the VA explain to the Court why the same appeal has been kept in remand status for 20 years. Remands are supposed to be handled expeditiously. We all know that's a crock, but 20 years is an egregious assault on your appeal rights that should not be allowed to go unchallenged.

IOP Definitions

Author Judge. The judge responsible for drafting an order, memorandum decision, or opinion of the Court is the author judge.


Board of Judges (BOJ). The BOJ is composed of all judges serving in regular active service.


Case. A case is a matter pending or decided by the Court, based on the context of its use herein.


Central Legal Staff (CLS). The personnel responsible for conferencing with the litigating parties and preparing screening and other memoranda for the Court constitute the CLS.


Clerk. The Clerk is the Clerk of the Court.


Editors. The Editors are the Court's editors, who maintain the Court's Style Manual and review all final decisions of the Court for style and format consistency.


En Banc. All eligible and participating judges serving in regular active service, acting on a matter together, constitute the En Banc Court.


Issuance. Issuance occurs when an action of the Court is posted by the Clerk on the Court's docket.


Judge. A judge is any person appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, to serve on the Court. Except where context indicates otherwise, "Judge" as u sed herein includes a judge serving in regular active service and/or a Senior Judge.


Memorandum Decision. A memorandum decision is a nonprecedential final decision of the Court, issued by a single judge.


Opinion. An opinion is a decision of the Court issued by a panel or en banc. Unless otherwise noted, an opinion is a precedential decision of the Court.


Order. An order is any direction or ruling of the Court.


Order of Precedence. The Chief Judge shall have precedence over the judges of the Court, and the other judges serving in regular active service shall have precedence based on the date of their original commissions. A judge serving in regular active service shall have precedence over a senior judge. Senior judges shall have precedence among the senior judges based on the date of their original commissions.


Panel. A panel consists of multiple judges (usually three, and always at least three), acting on a matter together.


Period of Circulation or Notification. Any period of circulation or notification does not count the first day of the period.


Presiding Judge on a Panel or Senior Judge in the Majority. The judge on a panel having the highest order of precedence is the presiding judge on the panel, and the judge having the highest order of precedence of the judges in the majority is the senior judge in the majority.


Public Office. The personnel responsible for processing cases and assigning them to judges constitute the Public Office.


Published. A decision of the Court is published electronically or hard bound, in accordance with Section VIII of this IOP.


Quorum. A majority of a multiple judge panel constitutes a quorum.


Screening Judge. The judge making the initial review of the case is the screening judge.


Senior Judge. A Senior Judge is a judge serving as a recalled retired judge pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 7257. Note: "Senior Judge" does not refer to status as a presiding or senior judge on a panel.




Announcements




No current announcements.


Mobile Site



United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20004-2950
Phone: (202) 501-5970 Fax: (202) 501-5848

Great explanation.

I can see the VA folks laughing, kind of in the spirit of "you want it when?"

Buck52 - judging by all the disabilities, you've stated your spouse has, it sounds like she should be receiving SSDI. If she was receiving SSDI, w/Medicare, her ChampVA would pickup the co-payments and Medicare would be the primary payer. Also, depending on how much her employment pays, she may be allowed to continue working. It might be worth checking into. If you call SSA remember that the lowest person on the pecking order answers the phone and therefore may not know what they are talking about. jmo

pr

TEE: Take a breath, all movement is good. If you haven't already done so, set up your Bank or CU account to TXT and EMail you regarding any and all DEPOSITS and withdrawals. My Retro was in my Account about 4 days before I got the Big Brown Award/Denial Envelope. I got the TXT advising me of the LARGE Deposit at 7:00AM. Way to start the day, right!! My DRO Hearing was 6/27/14, had a copy of Official DRO Award Decision that same afternoon. Didn't receive the Award Envelope until the end of 07/14.

Semper Fi

Gastone

EXCELLANTO! Smart Hard Work finally paid off, your husband is a lucky guy. If your state has Property Tax Exemption, file your app ASAP at your city's Tax office. Generally speaking, there's a deadline for filing each year, normally 1st QTR before Tax Board meets. Could be substantial $s. Congratulations again, good job.

Semper Fi

Gastone

Congratulations Navywife Great news for both of you!! Now enjoy some down time with hubby! Take care of him.

Eric

I am so so glad for you and your family NavyWife. I waited almost 4 years for my claim to be complete, so I know how you feel.

So now, relax, and enjoy. You guys deserve it.

God Bless, and may you guys live long , and Happy.

Aggie

Great work Navy Wife, congratulations.

Rick

Congratulations
You and others have gotten great advice here. I would humbly suggest you send a few bucks from your Retro to tbird to help keep this site going for others. Its a lot cheaper than an attorney who gets 20%, or a VSO who represents VA and, sometimes, give bad advice or bad service that can cost you money. Our advice is all subject to "peer review"..and the others will often chime in if they disagree. Your VSO advice is probably not "peer reviewed".

Congratulations. Aren't you glad you found Hadit?

NavyWife

There are two warriors in your home. One warrior fought for his country and the other warrior fought for her husband. You trained yourself, armed yourself, and you kicked their ass. You should be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished. Even though you had your hands full fighting the VA for your husband, you didn't hesitate to help others on Hadit fight their battles. There are a lot of people on the Hadit website who have a lot of admiration and respect for you including myself. I hope we will continue to see your posts on the Hadit website for many years to come. You are an inspiration to us all.

Good luck and good health to you and your husband.

Georgiapapa

Great News! You did an amazing job! I'm still waiting to see if my hubby is P&T. Still nothing from VA since we got the BVA decision granting TDIU.

I was here for the whole show, and you kicked some ass,. you are a pitbull of tenacity. I am so happy for you and your hubby.
What a blessing. !!!!

Congratulations. This has to take a lot of stress off your husband and you as well. I feel so bad for vets who don't have a dedicated spouse standing with them. Especially with mental health issues, it is so difficult for them to keep going.
Kate

Well it's done!

Hubby is now 100%, plus P&T.

When I read the news, I dropped to my knees. Hubby started crying. I never hugged him so tight before!
1 year and 5 months ago, I logged on to Hadit and started ferociously reading the material. At first, it was every single day for most of the day.
Then Philip Rogers told me to buy the VBM. I did, but I was intimidated when that huge 2,000 page book arrived.
Next, I went after the C-file. VA sure didn't want to hand that over! In it, I saw all the injustices that had been done to him since he was medically discharged from the military. I saw that he had been wrongfully denied 4 TIMES. But this gave me an understanding of how the process works.



I can't thank enough each and every person on this website that takes from their own time, to help other veterans.
Tbird
Asknod
Berta
Philip Rogers- for telling me to buy VBM
John999 -without you pushing for IME, this never would have happened
Navy04- for lifting up my mood, when I got discouraged
Veldrina
JT
K9MAL
Georgiapapa
Notorious Kelly
Lotzapotz
Gastone
Broncovet
Jbasser
Mariorivera
Arng11
63SIERRA
Chuck75
Add55p
Pete53
Vync
aggie54
Stretch
And everyone else who is part of this community.

For those of you waiting, don't give up. But most importantly, get good medical evidence and good lay evidence to support your claims.

Well it's done!

Hubby is now 100%, plus P&T.

When I read the news, I dropped to my knees. Hubby started crying. I never hugged him so tight before!
1 year and 5 months ago, I logged on to Hadit and started ferociously reading the material. At first, it was every single day for most of the day.
Then Philip Rogers told me to buy the VBM. I did, but I was intimidated when that huge 2,000 page book arrived.
Next, I went after the C-file. VA sure didn't want to hand that over! In it, I saw all the injustices that had been done to him since he was medically discharged from the military. I saw that he had been wrongfully denied 4 TIMES. But this gave me an understanding of how the process works.



I can't thank enough each and every person on this website that takes from their own time, to help other veterans.
Tbird
Asknod
Berta
Philip Rogers- for telling me to buy VBM
John999 -without you pushing for IME, this never would have happened
Navy04- for lifting up my mood, when I got discouraged
Veldrina
JT
K9MAL
Georgiapapa
Notorious Kelly
Lotzapotz
Gastone
Broncovet
Jbasser
Mariorivera
Arng11
63SIERRA
Chuck75
Add55p
Pete53
Vync
aggie54
Stretch
And everyone else who is part of this community.

For those of you waiting, don't give up. But most importantly, get good medical evidence and good lay evidence to support your claims.