Attorneys Posting

[Former Member]

This one just popped up at VA Watchdog-

http://www.veteransdisabilitiesbenefits.com/

Robert Howell-

I worked with a John Howell at Stars and Stripes for a while- former VA lawyer doing vet advocacy now-

need to contact him to see if his is also going to rep vets-

I believe that these attorneys will be starting to put ads on the internet and at many web sites---

I believe they will focus on exactly what the VA states in the VCAA letter and any denials as to exactly what the veteran still needs-

in most cases it will the same as VA claims now-

EVIDENCE----the only thing that can win a claim.

[Steppenwolf]

"EVIDENCE----the only thing that can win a claim."

Can you explain why you think that a quality attorney wouldn't have a better chance of winning a case than a non attorney who more often than not has his own case pending?

[Former Member]

An attorney will question an illegal VCAA notice right from the gitgo- and make sure the VA considers the medical evidence properly.

Also attorneys will be motivated by the potential fees they get- this is a bill of choice -no one is forced to get a lawyer-

My medical evidence and 3 IMOs (cost $4000) have been ignored since I filed in Feb 2003.

Although the stuff is all being ostensibly worked on now with a rater and with a specialist who is checking the rater-

it is possible that my laywer will have to rep me- he already said he would because my evidence si so strong-

I can get another IMO too -already talked to the docs about that one-

These reps are not challenging illegal VCAA letters nor are they motivated to give every case 100% of their ability.

LOVE your music!

[Ricky]

"Can you explain why you think that a quality attorney wouldn't have a better chance of winning a case than a non attorney who more often than not has his own case pending?"

Let me take a swag at this. As Berta atated EVIDENCE wins claims. Without evidence and more evidence your could have the Almighty process your claim and it would not be approved. So just having a quality attorney process your claim will not help you cause he is going to tell you that you need evidence to support your claim.

Now if you have a quality attorney he/she may be associated with docs who can provide such evidence therefore, removing the step of you the veteran having to beat the bushes to find such a doctor.

The attorney as the service officer will only submit and reply to VA requests. You the veteran are still going to have to do the leg work (after all it is your disability) and stay on top of him/her just as you do with the service officer. So the bottom line is EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE and continued pushing the buttons of whoever you have process your claim.

[SLEDGE]

Some folks are missing the main point involved with being able to choose 'anybody' that you desire to be your advocate when pursuing a claim against the VA.

To further explain myself in this post, I can offer some information and maybe a little history.

I'm on prescription drugs for pain, insomnia, depression and anxiety (PTSD) and I have to use a cpap machine. (Prior to 1999, the VA refused to treat my sleep apnea.) Except for some dental care and the cpap equipment I get no help with my health problems from the VA. Not even pain killers.

Through this site I learned that there are some attorneys out there that will represent veterans without regard to getting compensated for their representation. My lawyer prefers to work with mental disabilities like PTSD.

Why would a robust, well rounded, employable, perfectly healthy, well educated family man need the VA in 1988?

Well, consider not getting a good nights sleep since the summer of 1971.

Combining sleep apnea with PTSD does not facilitate working and playing well with others. In 1979 I KNEW something was very wrong with me and my wife also became concerned. That was about the time that she started placing a row of pillows between us in bed for her own safety. Anytime I reached stage 4 sleep I started swinging. Even with the anti-PTSD, psych drugs it still happens but, not as often. Now we sleep in separate rooms.

In the 70's and the 80's all I knew about the VA came from the DAV and television. In 1989 or 1990 the VA interfered with my private sector treatment and set up circumstances that made it impossible to continue my treatment for PTSD through the private sector.

The VARO blocked everything that the DAV and I did to secure a proper level of compensation from 1979 on until I changed my Power of Attorney to the private sector lawyer in 2000.

Then it took my professional, VA lawyer, with decades of VA law experience, over 2 years to straighten out the BS crap that the VARO had pulled on me during the previous 14 years of continuous prosecution of my valid, well documented claims.

Well folks, even today I can't put my VA records in chronological order. My brain stops working after 5 minutes.

I can't function when fireworks are going off or a thunderstorm rolls through. Certain subtle, innocuous sounds put me into a full anxiety attack.

In short, I am completely unable to prosecute my own claims without professional legal help.

Like many others, I am able to offer advice based upon common sense, 3 decades of dealing with the VA and my limited education.

BUT, I have a severe problem when it comes to fighting with the RO jerks because of the nature of PTSD and the dishonest acts committed by the VARO to facilitate one illegal denial after another. My lawyer understands this.

For veterans who have different medical conditions and experiences from mine, be your own judge and do what you think is best.

But do not tell guys like me to study VA rules and regulation and case law.

Do not tell us that we, ourselves, are our best advocate.

Do not try to make yourself believe that the VA has done everything it can to help us.

Until the situation comes down to one lawyer against another lawyer in front of a court of law, we are absolutely at the mercy of the vindictive, self-serving jerks that run the VA.

Without guys like me refusing to knuckle under and patriotic attorneys that are willing to work for nothing, the rest of the veteran community would be farther into the toilet than they are now.

sledge

[c398x2]

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJUN07/nf060807-3.htm

"Director (00/21) In Reply Refer To: 211A

All VA Regional Offices and Centers Fast Letter 07-15

Subject: Public Law 109-461

This letter provides information concerning the new legislation governing the recognition of agents and attorneys representing claimants before VA. Enclosure One provides general answers to questions employees may receive during interviews or when answering telephones.

[Steppenwolf]

In a way i think i misunderstood your post. Now that you explained your POV i understand your point. Since a few others replied to my question i will follow up with some thoughts that i have on this subject.

Keep your motor runn'n!

SW

An attorney will question an illegal VCAA notice right from the gitgo- and make sure the VA considers the medical evidence properly.

Also attorneys will be motivated by the potential fees they get- this is a bill of choice -no one is forced to get a lawyer-

My medical evidence and 3 IMOs (cost $4000) have been ignored since I filed in Feb 2003.

Although the stuff is all being ostensibly worked on now with a rater and with a specialist who is checking the rater-

it is possible that my laywer will have to rep me- he already said he would because my evidence si so strong-

I can get another IMO too -already talked to the docs about that one-

These reps are not challenging illegal VCAA letters nor are they motivated to give every case 100% of their ability.

LOVE your music!

[Steppenwolf]

As i mentioned to Bertha i misunderstood her response to mean that "evidence" was the only thing that mattered; inferring that getting a private attorney was a waste of time and money. It seems to me that that is the DAV's position and one of the reasons they are against attornies representing veterans.

When i received the DAV magizine with the article against attornies i went in to my local DAV office and told the rep that i wanted to resign my lifetime membership to the DAV. Simply put their arguement sucks and for them to attempt to block the 109th congress' house and senate bill allowing veterans to hire a private attorney from the begining of a claim outraged me! i do NOT want them speaking for me!

We all have our stories and most of them seem unjust. It's hard to believe that our government, the one that we fought for and in many cases gave our lives as we knew them, now fights US harder than they fight the enemy. We are casualties of war in ways that the general public never gets to hear about and certainly doesn't know about...my fear is that they don't care either. But there one can say that i am projecting my opinion yet i don't think i'm wrong.

With-in the last couple of years ( things begin to blurr after all the years of fighting the system ) the DAV changed my service officer several times. They change my service officer "for many reasons" i was told by the DAV when i asked. One of the paid DAV officers told me not to worry because "everyone is equally qualified to handle your case". Who here belives that line of crap??? i spend 18 months discussing my case with a service officer and the next time i call and ask to speak with him i am asked my claim number then informed that i no longer have SO X, i now have SO Y. Y? Why indeed!

At some point don't we have to ask who are our allies and who are our enimies? It almost sounds like treason but all you have to do is listen to the stories of our soldiers and it starts becoming apparent that the faceless group that we are asking to help us is not helping us at all. In fact they are making us worse for the wear. If it is not seen as that then what is it?

Veterans as a group should be represented as smokers were represented or any other group that was damged by the actions of another entity. In other words we need a class action suit to get what we deserve and to get the attention of the public at large. i think if the public knew the siZe of this unjustice against the 1% of us they put our life on the line; maybe they too would get pissed off enough to demand that we get treated fairly by the VA and in essence our governemt.

How dare they treat us worse than prisoners of war!

Maybe that is indeed what we are POW inprisoned by an invisible fence of beaurocratic red tape and people that suck up to whomever gives them the most money and most votes. Hell, 1% of people that are in many cases so screwed up in their heads from war that they may not even vote...why help them?

On memorial day my freshman congressman who took the place of Foley from Florida had a townhall meeting for veterans. Maybe 60 vets showed up, most WWll men and one woman, 1 Korean vet, 4 Nam vets and 1 Iraq vet and his wife ( he couldn't even talk his wife had to ). When i mentioned to the congressman that i had heard that the VA budget was second only to the pentagon but that our pockets got picked for every disaster that needs money or pet project of some congressman, he told me that the money that gets sucked out of our budget is "CHUMP CHANGE". Imagine that assecment of an abuse: "CHUMP CHANGE" and this is from a guy who calls himself pro-veteran. Even if he is not your congressman everyone should write him a letter and ask him to explain "CHUMP CHANGE". BTW he like most of those in Congress never served.

i'm done ranting for now. i will say one more thing: i have a very large law firm that is now "exploring" the possibility of a class action suit. i'll keep you posted.

SW

"Can you explain why you think that a quality attorney wouldn't have a better chance of winning a case than a non attorney who more often than not has his own case pending?"

Let me take a swag at this. As Berta atated EVIDENCE wins claims. Without evidence and more evidence your could have the Almighty process your claim and it would not be approved. So just having a quality attorney process your claim will not help you cause he is going to tell you that you need evidence to support your claim.

Now if you have a quality attorney he/she may be associated with docs who can provide such evidence therefore, removing the step of you the veteran having to beat the bushes to find such a doctor.

The attorney as the service officer will only submit and reply to VA requests. You the veteran are still going to have to do the leg work (after all it is your disability) and stay on top of him/her just as you do with the service officer. So the bottom line is EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE and continued pushing the buttons of whoever you have process your claim.

Edited June 16, 2007 by Steppenwolf (see edit history)

[Steppenwolf]

SLEDGE, please read my posts and let me know what you think.

SW

Some folks are missing the main point involved with being able to choose 'anybody' that you desire to be your advocate when pursuing a claim against the VA.

To further explain myself in this post, I can offer some information and maybe a little history.

I'm on prescription drugs for pain, insomnia, depression and anxiety (PTSD) and I have to use a cpap machine. (Prior to 1999, the VA refused to treat my sleep apnea.) Except for some dental care and the cpap equipment I get no help with my health problems from the VA. Not even pain killers.

Through this site I learned that there are some attorneys out there that will represent veterans without regard to getting compensated for their representation. My lawyer prefers to work with mental disabilities like PTSD.

Why would a robust, well rounded, employable, perfectly healthy, well educated family man need the VA in 1988?

Well, consider not getting a good nights sleep since the summer of 1971.

Combining sleep apnea with PTSD does not facilitate working and playing well with others. In 1979 I KNEW something was very wrong with me and my wife also became concerned. That was about the time that she started placing a row of pillows between us in bed for her own safety. Anytime I reached stage 4 sleep I started swinging. Even with the anti-PTSD, psych drugs it still happens but, not as often. Now we sleep in separate rooms.

In the 70's and the 80's all I knew about the VA came from the DAV and television. In 1989 or 1990 the VA interfered with my private sector treatment and set up circumstances that made it impossible to continue my treatment for PTSD through the private sector.

The VARO blocked everything that the DAV and I did to secure a proper level of compensation from 1979 on until I changed my Power of Attorney to the private sector lawyer in 2000.

Then it took my professional, VA lawyer, with decades of VA law experience, over 2 years to straighten out the BS crap that the VARO had pulled on me during the previous 14 years of continuous prosecution of my valid, well documented claims.

Well folks, even today I can't put my VA records in chronological order. My brain stops working after 5 minutes.

I can't function when fireworks are going off or a thunderstorm rolls through. Certain subtle, innocuous sounds put me into a full anxiety attack.

In short, I am completely unable to prosecute my own claims without professional legal help.

Like many others, I am able to offer advice based upon common sense, 3 decades of dealing with the VA and my limited education.

BUT, I have a severe problem when it comes to fighting with the RO jerks because of the nature of PTSD and the dishonest acts committed by the VARO to facilitate one illegal denial after another. My lawyer understands this.

For veterans who have different medical conditions and experiences from mine, be your own judge and do what you think is best.

But do not tell guys like me to study VA rules and regulation and case law.

Do not tell us that we, ourselves, are our best advocate.

Do not try to make yourself believe that the VA has done everything it can to help us.

Until the situation comes down to one lawyer against another lawyer in front of a court of law, we are absolutely at the mercy of the vindictive, self-serving jerks that run the VA.

Without guys like me refusing to knuckle under and patriotic attorneys that are willing to work for nothing, the rest of the veteran community would be farther into the toilet than they are now.

sledge

[Former Member]

I am not Sledge but I certainly agree with much of what you said-

The military is not a system that is a democracy-that is one thing we all can understand-

but once a veteran is a civilian you would think we would have the civil rights of discovery (meaning those C & P results should be attached right to an SOC denial letter,) and we dont have the right to C & Ps unless a VA paid doctor does them-what a conflict of interest there-

Attorneys are motivated by money-and only a successful claim can bring that-and there is nothing wrong with that- service officers get a nice salary whether they bungle a claim up or not-

You said:

"We are casualties of war in ways that the general public never gets to hear about and certainly doesn't know about" so true ,so true- and as Eminem said "you have no idea, you have nooooo idea"

(Evil Deeds)

You and Steppenwolf are Right !!!!!-

All of you must Keep your motors runnin'-!!!!!!

fight back with evidence, never give up, and dont die for many decades --- for spite!

I was playing this CD when I read your post just now. Berta

[Former Member]

PS I say "We" but I am a civilian.

I think you all catch my drift when I say 'we'-

[Pete53]

Berta:

Anyone who does not include spouses and children of military as part of the Military are missing the point. Does anyone believe that the spouses and children and the Moms and Dad's are not affected by the deployments.

I went to a Computer Store to get a camera that was on sale and met a young Dallas Marine about to be deployed updating his computer so that his wife could communicate with him while he is in Iraq for 18 months, Can you believe 18 months tours in Iraq?

[Steppenwolf]

I am not Sledge but I certainly agree with much of what you said-

The military is not a system that is a democracy-that is one thing we all can understand-

but once a veteran is a civilian you would think we would have the civil rights of discovery (meaning those C & P results should be attached right to an SOC denial letter,) and we dont have the right to C & Ps unless a VA paid doctor does them-what a conflict of interest there-

Attorneys are motivated by money-and only a successful claim can bring that-and there is nothing wrong with that- service officers get a nice salary whether they bungle a claim up or not-

You said:

"We are casualties of war in ways that the general public never gets to hear about and certainly doesn't know about" so true ,so true- and as Eminem said "you have no idea, you have nooooo idea"

(Evil Deeds)

You and Steppenwolf are Right !!!!!-

All of you must Keep your motors runnin'-!!!!!!

fight back with evidence, never give up, and dont die for many decades --- for spite!

I was playing this CD when I read your post just now. Berta

Gee Berta, i thought i hit the reply button for Sledge...don't want to ignor those who post what seems to be directed to me or my posting.

You seem to know a lot more than i do but i think the most important part is that we are all banded together as civilians who served and know the truth about how we are treated afterwards. There were times that i thought we were treated poorly as soldiers but it's far worse after you're discharged.

i started reading some of the other topics and subtopics yesterday and hadit.com has a passionate group of veterans who are sharing some great info.

i have to read more about Dr Bash. i spoke with him a little over a year ago and was talked out of having him write an IMO for me by my DAV rep who felt that i had enough evidence to win a case without paying someone for "redundant information". My DAV rep felt that i would come out of the hearing with "at least 70%" if not 100%. When the decison came in it was not what he nor i now that he gave me false hope, had expected. The judge did think i had enough evidence to remand my case. i'm still not sure what that means and who it is being remand back to nor how long it's going to take. Once again the DAV rep keeps telling me to "do nothing" which i feel is wrong.

i'm so tired of telling my story but maybe i need to do that once more somewhere here at hadit.com. If i was going to do that which category/topic should i post it in?

[Steppenwolf]

PS The case(s) i have going now have little to do with my disability case which was started in 1970.

The case(s) i have going now are being handled pro bono now by this large firm who in their retainer agreement states that i can not mention their name without their permission.

i'm pretty sure that i can say that the case is a FTCA claim and possible class action suit that they are "exploring".

Pro bono is sweet in one way but i worry about "getting what you paid for".

As i mentioned somewhere, there are two TV shows that want to do a story with my case at the root of their fictional re-prestentation. i don't think The Firm wants my case on the air before they file. i'm not sure what to do.