Claim On Docket At Bva

[john999]

My CUE claim was placed on the docket for the BVA. I got the letter today. I will be dead or insane by the time I get a decision. From the time I filed it till I get a decision from BVA will probably be 4 years. Two rejections at the VARO and then a BVA Hearing and now it is on the docket? What was the hearing for I wonder? For crying out loud I thought the BVA judge at the hearing could make a decision. He got the brief and heard my case. I knew the hearning was quick, but I did not think it was just a milestone on the way to a long,long wait for the BVA to rule. I never actually got a personal BVA hearing before.

[pacmanx1]

My CUE claim was placed on the docket for the BVA. I got the letter today. I will be dead or insane by the time I get a decision. From the time I filed it till I get a decision from BVA will probably be 4 years. Two rejections at the VARO and then a BVA Hearing and now it is on the docket? What was the hearing for I wonder? For crying out loud I thought the BVA judge at the hearing could make a decision. He got the brief and heard my case. I knew the hearning was quick, but I did not think it was just a milestone on the way to a long,long wait for the BVA to rule. I never actually got a personal BVA hearing before.

John999, I think a lot of us are in the same boat but some of us don't even know it. It seems that VA is granting TDIUs or in my case 100% schedular and counting on the veteran to not pursue the earlier effective dates. My case was added to the docket long ago, was remanded back to the regional, had new C & Ps for some issues and now back at BVA waiting for the judge to request it and make a decision. I can only hope and pray that she/he will review all the evidence and make a right decision, since my evidence was already in my file. The money will greatly help but it would really be correcting a horrible injustice by people who are supposed to help but for some reason choose not. It would be nice to move on with my life but the feeling of them cheating me cuts deep. I do not know how to let go, right is right and wrong is wrong but what VA does is horrible.

[john999]

Carlie

I don't even know what the judge's name was since he only did in-take. There was no real hearing per say. My lawyer handed him the brief and asked me a couple of questions on the record. The judge who was a large black man did not ask me a single question. I guess if you consider a 15 minute meeting a hearing then I got a hearing. I have the letter from BVA but it does not say who will be deciding my clailm or who did the hearing. The guy who did the hearing may not be the guys who make the decision. Does the guy who does your hearing make a decison or does he just do in-take and hand it off to the board to wait in a pile for years and years? Do they role dice like a floating crap game to see who makes a decision at the BVA? I was left with a sinking feeling after the "hearing". This process does not impress me. I sent my claims to the BVA before but this is the first so-called hearing I ever got. I don't think my lawyer should have even asked for a hearing. It was all in his brief except for what we brought up concerning no appeal rights with the original decision. Who knows about that since the BVA guy had a C-file three times as large as mine.

[Pete53]

John:

I only have one piece of advice. "Never give up"

Remind your Lawyer that if you do pass on God Forbid that your wife can continue the claim. Be sure and tell her also. She has to ask within one year of death and every spouse should know this.

I swear to God if Mrs Pete were to pass before me I would marry a 16 year old in name only so she could collect from VA of 80 years hopefully

[carlie]

Carlie

I don't even know what the judge's name was since he only did in-take. There was no real hearing per say. My lawyer handed him the brief and asked me a couple of questions on the record. The judge who was a large black man did not ask me a single question.

John, no, he wasn't just doing an in-take. He is the BVA Judge assigned to your claim. It pisses me off that your lawyer didn't speak up and invite the Judge

to ask you some questions.

I guess if you consider a 15 minute meeting a hearing then I got a hearing. I have the letter from BVA but it does not say who will be deciding my clailm or who did the hearing. The guy who did the hearing may not be the guys who make the decision. Does the guy who does your hearing make a decison or does he just do in-take and hand it off to the board to wait in a pile for years and years?

John, he is assigned to your claim. He and your cfile will return to Washington

and he will hand-off your claim, any notes he made, your lawyers brief,

the hearing transcripts etc...to a subordinate lawyer that will adjudicate this appeal or write a remand. Then your Judge is supposed to look it over to verify

everything that was done and sign off on it.

Kind of like the friggin doctors that sign off on a PA's C&P.

My last BVA Hearing in Sept. lasted almost 2 full hours with Judge Stephen Wilkins,

he asked quite a few questions and took lots of notes.

Do they role dice like a floating crap game to see who makes a decision at the BVA?

John - IMO - it's all a roll of the dice.

carlie

[john999]

Pete

If you married a 16 year old that would either resurrect you or kill you. I feel the same way about making the VA pay for the next half century at least.

Carlie

I asked for the transcript of the hearing. Questions were not that important since it was all in the brief. We say they made a CUE by excluding evidence that would have resulted in a different decision. That is clear from the record. If that is not a CUE then I guess we lose.

[Pete53]

Its a mixed bag. In one way I feel that VA cheated me and many other Veterans and than again I am grateful I finally got in by the hair of my chinny chin chin 21 years after I left the Army.

I also feel that the VA knows things it could tell us but lets us suffer when its not needed.