Ao Widow's

[Berta]

The Ninth Circuit Court has held that 38 CFR 816 (Nehmer Court order and stipulation)

provides that "if a class action member's claim for cause of death or other DIC benefits was received by VA between May 3,1989

and the effrective date of the statute or regulation estabklishing a presumption of service connection for the covered herbicide disease thatcaused the death,the effective date of the award will be the later of the date such claim was received by VA or the date death occurred.

a case at the BVA (Citation 0915051- DOcket 07-37 136) explains this better than I could.

Vietnam Vet dies Feb 2002 CLL contributing to death

Widow files DIC April 2002 denied Sept 2002

VA adds CLL to AO presumptive list.October 2003

Widow re-opens DIC claim March 2005 and the VA awards with DIC retro date of March 2005 -the date she re-opened

WRONG!!!!

Widow fights back and appeals

BVA April 2009 awards widow EED retro for DIC back to Feb 1 2002-the month of death of the veteran.

This case was advanced on the docket and I assume the widow herself was very ill by time the VA properly awarded her retro DIC.

This case is a good example of how the Nehmer decision has brought widow's better Retro EEDs.

The RO had denied the proper EED saying the past finality of their 2002 denial prevented a earlier EED.

That idea does not bide well with the Nehmer decision.And shows the ROs dont really have a clue on most Nehmer AO claims as to the proper EED.