I checked one of Alex Humphries posts, the now deceased Veteran advocate lawyer who used to help Veterans by posting on this board. He recommended a law firm, so I called them.
Essentially, I have been awarded 100% P and T, but at an effective date 5 years later than when I applied.
I dont want to mess up my 100% P and T, but on the other hand, strongly feel that my effective date should be in 2002 because I applied for a benefit increase by an informal claim at the Docs office. Alex Humphrey pointed out, in his post, that if a Veteran goes to his doc complaining of unemployment issues, that constitutes an informal claim for TDIU.
Roberson vs Principi states it this way:
when the VA conducts a medical examination . . . if the results indicate an increase in severity in the disability, VA must then evaluate the circumstances as a claim for an increased rating. Further, the Court holds that when an RO is considering a rating increase claim from a claimant who’s schedular rating meets the minimum criteria of section 4.16(a) and there is evidence of current service-connected unemployability . . . evaluation of that rating increase must also include an evaluation of a reasonably raised claim for a TDIU rating. In that situation, where those two criteria are satisfied, a well-grounded TDIU claim is included in every rating-increase claim, and VA would be required to adjudicate that well-grounded TDIU claim.
I have already filed a NOD to the March, 09 RO decision which awarded 100% P and T, disputing the effective date.
If the VA gets away with delaying the Veterans claim for 5 years, then finally awarding benefits with an effective date 5 years later, they have succeeded in swindling the Veteran out of 5 years of benefits.
I really do not think it is fair to other Veterans for me to just sit by and watch the VA do this. My guess is that they have done this to other Veterans.
Veterans need to know that informal claims are a perfectly legitimate way of applying for benefits. Altho I dont recommend not following this up with a formal claim for benefits, informal claims should trigger the VA to assist the Veteran applying for benefits, under this important court case.
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broncovet
I checked one of Alex Humphries posts, the now deceased Veteran advocate lawyer who used to help Veterans by posting on this board. He recommended a law firm, so I called them.
Essentially, I have been awarded 100% P and T, but at an effective date 5 years later than when I applied.
I dont want to mess up my 100% P and T, but on the other hand, strongly feel that my effective date should be in 2002 because I applied for a benefit increase by an informal claim at the Docs office. Alex Humphrey pointed out, in his post, that if a Veteran goes to his doc complaining of unemployment issues, that constitutes an informal claim for TDIU.
Roberson vs Principi states it this way:
when the VA conducts a medical examination . . . if the results indicate an increase in severity in the disability, VA must then evaluate the circumstances as a claim for an increased rating. Further, the Court holds that when an RO is considering a rating increase claim from a claimant who’s schedular rating meets the minimum criteria of section 4.16(a) and there is evidence of current service-connected unemployability . . . evaluation of that rating increase must also include an evaluation of a reasonably raised claim for a TDIU rating. In that situation, where those two criteria are satisfied, a well-grounded TDIU claim is included in every rating-increase claim, and VA would be required to adjudicate that well-grounded TDIU claim.
Source: http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judic...ns/00-7009.html
I have already filed a NOD to the March, 09 RO decision which awarded 100% P and T, disputing the effective date.
If the VA gets away with delaying the Veterans claim for 5 years, then finally awarding benefits with an effective date 5 years later, they have succeeded in swindling the Veteran out of 5 years of benefits.
I really do not think it is fair to other Veterans for me to just sit by and watch the VA do this. My guess is that they have done this to other Veterans.
Veterans need to know that informal claims are a perfectly legitimate way of applying for benefits. Altho I dont recommend not following this up with a formal claim for benefits, informal claims should trigger the VA to assist the Veteran applying for benefits, under this important court case.
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