joeyjoeyb

Hey everyone, I had my hearing with a judge at the ATL regional office on Sep 12 on my appeal (face to face). I just found out that the transcript was done on the 17th of October. (that seems fast?) My questions is...am I getting close to a decision from the BVA?

Had hearing on the 12th. I thought it was a video hearing the whole time, but it was actually face to face with the judge. I was nervous as a cat, but got through it. My VSO and my wife (who came with me and gave testimony) thinks I have a real good shot of winning. So back to the waiting mode. Just a timeline for the ones that want to know. I submitted my appeal in July 2010 and hearing Sept 2012 so a little over 2 years. Not sure if that is fast or not, but it is what it is. Wish me luck!!

Wish me luck tomorrow on my BVA video hearing...I am nervous as a cat. LOL

Thanks stretch. @john. Yes I did file a claim for sleep apnea within 1 year of retirement. I believe at 7 months when I had my initial c&p exams.

Yes I have a vso and he will be with me. I am bringing my wife as well. Not sure how to Present. I have no Other evidence. Basically I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 89 days after I retired. Nothing in smr and denied whole way. They have buddy statements dr letter and statement from wife. I cited three cases from the BVA website that mirrored mine which I hope helps. Not sure how to type up a brief. I really hope my wife's testimony will be the key to winning.

Anyone have tips for me? What to expect?

Yes John it is.

Well I finally am going to have my video hearing on the 12th of Sep....It says to report at noon....kind of surprised there is not a set time. I guess you check in and wait your turn? Any tips I need to know about? I am kind of nervous, but it will be nice to finally get an answer and move on. Would love to get my claim awarded but will be nice to get some closure. LOL

My friend has been in the Preperation for decision for a month or so and looked at ebenefits today and it went back to review of evidence. What does that mean? Another C&P?

Coot He said that he was going to write up my written argument 14 months before he finally did it. Not sure what took him so long and when I asked him why he never answered my question.

Wow, I am getting very confused and frustrated. Can someone please explain the appeal process with the BVA. Some background….I received my SOC in June of 2010. I wrote up my form 9 appeal and it was received by my VSO in Atlanta and sent to the VA in July 2010. I REQUESTED A VIDEO HEARING. The VSO I was working with took 18 months to do his thing. ( I believe it was a form 646) He wrote up his written argument. My file is sent to the BVA. I get a letter saying as such, but it did not have a docket number on the letter. So I called the BVA office and asked for the docket number and the lady told me that a judge had my file. I asked her when I was going to get a chance to do my video hearing. She was like, you did not have that yet? She had me call the DAV rep in Washington that worked on my file. I called him and he was really nice. He told me that the file should not have been sent to the BVA because I had not received a video hearing, and by law, I am offorded one. So he filed a motion to remand the claim and have it sent back to the RO. He told me that once the file gets back to the RO that it will be fairly quick to get schedule for the video hearing. He also told me that this happens ALL the time. So I email my VSO to let him know what was going on. I hear nothing for 2 or 3 weeks. So I call the office and he had quit. So I had been assigned to a new NSO. So I emailed him and asked him why my file was sent to the BVA in the first place. He comes back with this: Video hearings require the claim folder to be sent to the BVA for the Judge to review prior to making a decision. You will be notified when it is time for your video hearing, remember it takes 3 1/2 years for an appeal, and remanded appeal such as yours take considerably longer. It states in the letter that remanded cases will be handled in an expeditious manner by law (blah blah blah) I asked him if he received the letter in his office dated 1 May 2012? His response: No. we do not keep that type of information. The Judge must have your file in his\her possession prior to a video conference. So needless to say, I am confused as hell. What the heck do I do now?

So what is the bottom line? Do I need a diagnosis for IBS or not? My SMR are covered with complaints of groin pain, bloating, blah blah blah, but I filed for chronis prostistitus...that is the va rep told me to file for when I retired. But I had no idea what I had....but now reading IBS symptoms, that is exactly what I have. So how do exactly go about filling for this?

This is interesting to me as well. I have had gastoral problems all through out my military career documented in my SMR's but never a diagnosis. So if I was to put in a claim for IBS, do I just file for unknown and describe my symtoms when filling for the claim?

Been trying to get the chain of events here. I submitted a form 9 appeal to my NSO June of last year. So happens next? Like step by step...

Thanks Berta....no one explained it like that to me. I will contact my VSO and see what the deal is. Just was not sure what was going on.

I submitted a form 9 to appeal a claim back in July of last year. In the mean time I had some other claims out there waiting on a decision. I received the decision last week. I know that my file cannot be in two places at one time, so the appeal has not gone anywhere until my other issues were decided on. Now that is done, what happens next? Should I let my VSO know that the other issues are done so now my appeal can get moving? Does my file get forwarded to my VSO (it is the DAV by the way) and then things start happening? I know that the appeal was submitted to the BVA on 30 July 2010. Just hoping someone can point me in the right direction. My VSO told me it was submitted, but I have received nothing from the BVA saying it was received. Ebenefits shows that the statement of case was sent to me and that on 30 July 2010 that the form 9 (substantive form 9 was at the RO level) but does not show a date received by the BVA. I have been told that it was submitted. Does it take that long for the BVA to acknowledge receipt?

Hello all. Just wanted to see if anyone else was having this problem. This has been going on for the past week or so. I can log in just fine. I click on my C&P area to see what is going on with my claims. I get to the area where it has the date like 06/01/2007....when I click on that, it will not go to the next screen. As a matter of fact, when I click on any dates in any of the areas, it will not go to the next screen. I cleaned out my computer and deleted all cookies and stuff, and it still does not work. I called the help line and they took my INFO and the lady said she had not heard of that problem. Not sure what is going on. Worked fine last week.

Yes Berta, I have gotten a statement from my wife of course and a few buddy letters with address, MOS, all that stuff and it is notorized. I guess what I am saying is that I think I still have a shot to get SC'd when I see cases like that.

Berta, Yes to all your questions except 1...my SMR are silent of OSA. I never complained about it. I did not know I had it. But I went to my TAP class in apr of 06 and a VA rep said that you have a year to submit any claim that is not in your SMR. I took that to heart and knew I had plenty of time ater I retired to get a sleep study. I had just had my gall bladder removed a month earlier and had some complications with that. Now check this case out. This is the kind of stuff that gives me hope. I was diagnosed with OSA 89 days after I retired. http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files1/0903559.txt

I am wodering if I should state cases that were decided favorably by the BVA. There are a few cases out there that mirror mine. Even time in service.

Anyone? Bueller....Bueller....??

Yes, John. I did request a DRO hearing and it came back still denied with a statement of case. Berta, thanks for the INFO, but am not sure if that statement is relevent in my case. I do not want to accuse them of not using the regs, when I do not know if they did or not.

Well my NOD came back after 18 months and my sleep apnea was denied again. I am going to write up the form 9 and get in line. I have an idea of what I want to say, but am not sure how to start it out. I want to cite a few BVA cases that mirror mine in the form 9. Any help with some examples would be awesome!! thanks in advance

Yes, I have a CPAP machine that was prescribed right after my sleep study. I do have a opinion from the doctor that I am seeing now about my apnea. He was able to get a better mask for me to use with my machine. He wrote up an opinion for me. Not the strongest letter, but not bad either.