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I filed a NOD for being granted 0% for a foot condition on 3/07/2017 and opted to not have a disposition instead I provided medical evidence. I provided this evidence and was required to have a C&P exam. I went to this exam on 07/21/2017 and the doctor went through the DBQ. Today I check eBenifits to see that my appeal went from Appeal received to Appeal Pending - Statement of the Case (SOC) "VA has received your Form 9 and will begin completing final actions regarding your appeal before it is sent to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals." and I have now have an open claim that gives the status of Pending decision approval. I know SOCs are not always the best thing to get, am I getting denied again?

I thought I would share this Form 9 info because, even though I am 100% TDIU, the VA has screwed up the effective date, thus shorting me and my lawyer out of roughly $73k. When all is said and done, THIS is why disabled veterans should hire a lawyer. Do note the various "tricks" that the VA uses to deny appeals. This is what you can expect from the VA, unfortunately. Keep your eyes wide open, if you are at this stage of the process. This document was scanned and OCR'ed but several mistakes in the OCR are still present. Please ignore the grammatical errors and such:

When is it too late to submit new and material evidence in an appeal? I just got my Dear John letter from the VA this weekend in the form of a Statement of the Case from a NOD I had filed on an initial rating back in 2013. I haven't filed my Form 9 yet, and know I'm a few days into my 60 day deadline clock, so don't want to waste too much time. I'm just wondering that if I receive another IME or IMO if I can submit them before my case gets transferred to the BVA. I haven't decided my options for hearings yet....video...in person....etc. Any thoughts? Thanks again! Mark

I received a letter stating that I have not filed a substantive appeal in a timely fashion. Which is completely untrue. I had 60 days from July 1st (since my SOC) to send my form 9,(VA actually never sent my SOC until AUG. 12, I only found out of the status change due to my e-benefits status)I still sent a form 9 even though the VA never even sent my SOC to me. I send my first attempt to address given in my Statement of case to VA Regional Office of Appeals located in Winston Salem,NC 27120-1309. Sent Certified mail dated July 7/28/2014. Which I paid for fast delivery. I called with follow up and I have recored all follows ups with VA reps. I was told to wait that it would take 3-6 weeks to update. I called again 9/23/2014 was told to wait and also wait for an appeals agent to call me in 7-10 days. Agent called me and said that my form was forwarded to a "scanning office" it should be updated soon and to give it another 3-6 weeks. Called VA 12/3/2014 was told Appeals would call me back in 7-10 days. No call back. Called and was told to wait another 7-10 days for appeals to call me. I got a call back 1/6/15 I was told to resend the form to WINSTON SALEM I sent it Certified mail with fast delivery again. 1/20/2015 A VA rep advised me that my VA regional office has changed for the first time that my VA office changed from Winston Sale to Los Angeles and my case has been improperly handled, then gave me the Evidence intake center address in Janesville WI. Where I re-sent My form 9, 1/20/2015. I've done nothing but try to get this form to the VA since July 28th,2014, 28 days in to my 60 day time span which I only found out from calling the VA since my SOC was not properly sent. I Disagree With the decision to not take any further action to send my case to BVA. Due to all the statements above, the Form 9 was sent out in a timely matter with directions given from all VA reps and my SOC.

Here is a brief summery of my last yeah and a half trying to get my appeals to go through. 09/11/2012 Local VA Office Decision RO 06/24/2013 Notice of Disagreement (NOD) RO 08/12/2013 Appeal Pending RO 07/01/2014 Statement of the Case (SOC) RO 09/01/2014 Decision & Claims File Dispatch BVA Which is they closed out my case 9/1/2014 saying they never got my Form 9 .......which I have sent many many times...... So I received a letter stating that I have not filed a substantive appeal in a timely fashion on 1/26/2015 . Which is completely untrue. I had 60 days from July 1st (since my SOC) to send my form 9,(VA actually never sent my SOC until AUG. 12, I only found out of the status change due to my e-benefits status)I still sent a form 9 even though the VA never even sent my SOC to me. I send my first attempt to address given in my Statement of case to VA Regional Office of Appeals located in Winston Salem,NC 27120-1309. Sent Certified mail dated July 7/28/2014. Which I paid for fast delivery. I called with follow up and I have recored all follows ups with VA reps. I was told to wait that it would take 3-6 weeks to update. I called again 9/23/2014 was told to wait and also wait for an appeals agent to call me in 7-10 days. Agent called me and said that my form was forwarded to a "scanning office" it should be updated soon and to give it another 3-6 weeks. Called VA 12/3/2014 was told Appeals would call me back in 7-10 days. No call back. Called and was told to wait another 7-10 days for appeals to call me. I got a call back 1/6/15 I was told to resend the form to WINSTON SALEM I sent it Certified mail with fast delivery again. 1/20/2015 A VA rep advised me that my VA regional office has changed for the first time that my VA office changed from Winston Sale to Los Angeles and my case has been improperly handled, then gave me the Evidence intake center address in Janesville WI. Where I re-sent My form 9, 1/20/2015.I've done nothing but try to get this form to the VA since July 28th,2014, 28 days in to my 60 day time span which I only found out from calling the VA since my SOC was not properly sent. I Disagree With the decision to not take any further action to send my case to BVA. Due to all the statements above, the Form 9 was sent out in a timely matter with directions given from all VA reps and my SOC. I asked to Please re-open my appeal and send it to BVA. I also contacted my Congress Man out here in CA. I have many other factors to my appeals and mistreatment and threats from my VA Doctor in Landstul Hosbital when I was seperating in 2011 ... if I discolsed any mental health issues and lack of care from the Military doctors. So for my denials to my orginal claims I went and got diagnoses from civilian physiatrists, therapists and physical therapists right when I seperated the AF in 2012. any advice ? They closed out all my appeals due to this awaiting response from my NOD for the close out to my appeal. of my