Travelboard Judge Decision

[Steppenwolf]

Turned down again. DAV tells me that i have 120 days to ask for reconsideration. i don't see anything in the envelope that says that.

Too many points to rehash but key missing VAMC files are mentioned as found. I have not seen them in 40 years. Who do I ask for copies?

[Steppenwolf]

Right Pete!

Regardless of SC percentage-if any SC disability(ies) render a vet unemployable by medical evidence then they are eligible for TDIU-if they apply for it.

70%SC triggers the VA to consider TDIU and send the form.

But nothing prevents a vet from applying for TDIU even with no SC at all.

SOme reps are too lazy to help a vet fill out the TDIU form.Or they simply dont know that it is medical evidence that awards TDIU,

I mentioned personal examples of vets before here I know that this worked for. "

"Regardless of SC percentage-if any SC disability(ies) render a vet unemployable by medical evidence then they are eligible for TDIU-if they apply for it."

So Berta, maybe this is what i just asked Pete: i am waiting for my hearing date on an NOD that i filed right after the decision. Without the help of my POA i have no idea how to inquire about my hearing date but at some point in the last year i was told that it should be with-in a month of the time that VARO gets my records back from BVA. The records are back at VARO as of April 7th 2010.

My plan was to present evidence to support a 70% rating and then go for TDIU. It seems now that I can just "ask for" and present evidence for TDIU at my NOD. Is this correct or was the way that the NOD was written set a precident?

It's better that i know how my case has been screwed up over the years so i can hopefully avoid falling in the same hole again....there have been a few classic examples and now, as the saying goes, it's near impossible to unring a bell.

[Steppenwolf]

i've spoken with an attorney several times already. Yesterday a VA attorney called me back after reviewing my SOC and SSOC as well as the Mar 7th decision from the travel board judge. His advice was not very clear. i told him that i expected to pay him even if it was just for an hour or so in his office for the NOD. He seemed to focus on replying before the 120 day limit to the court of appeals and of the other choices in the judges decision he suggested to choose "vacate" and i am not sure what that means but my gut tells me that "vacate" would have been the last choice or not a choice at all.

To get an attorney now just before my hearing seems daunting. How would he be paid if i win? Would he get the 20 or 25% of the award above and beyond what i already have or would he get retro'd % of the whole award?

i think the evidence is clear that since discharge i have mostly no worked. All over my service records as well as my VA records there are referrences to NOT working and Unemployable. No POA has EVER suggested TDIU. In fact i never heard of it until joining HADIT and it took until now to know that i could "ask for" TDIU.

Maybe i'm more stupid than my POA?

Can i get rated as an idiot? If so i'm definitly 100%. HA!

[Steppenwolf]

I was 30% when I applied for IU. I got 70% later and IU still denied. Another IMO and I got my IU. My effective date went back to the date when I had 30% and filed for IU.

i had an appointment with this shrink who works mostly, if not only with veterans and his specialty is IMO's.

The visit to his office was so different than any other Pdoc that i had ever been to. His whole staff was geared to helping me wade through the stuff that doesn't matter, find and focus on the stuff that does matter and will be needed to write a solid IMO, and he also addressed treatement. The letter has not arrived yet... i anxious to see what he has to say.

[john999]

I had a BVA Traveling judge hearing 5 months ago, and I am still waiting. You are not going to get your decision right away. What your lawyer might be able to do for you is to shape your appeal so that if you fail at BVA you can win at court of veteran appeals. This is the value of a lawyer I think. What you want from your lawyer is help in not making some fatal error in your claim. The lawyer may not be able to win an impossible case, but he can win the ones that are on the borderline, or the ones the VA has decided they are going to stonewall.

[Pete53]

I would look for a Viet Nam Veterans of America, our own in house VSO Larry or PVA I think they will at least listen to you.

The American Legion is pretty much a joke and you are lucky to be done with them. Sorry if I am stepping on toes but that is how I feel about that.

[68mustang]

I would look for a Viet Nam Veterans of America, our own in house VSO Larry or PVA I think they will at least listen to you.

The American Legion is pretty much a joke and you are lucky to be done with them. Sorry if I am stepping on toes but that is how I feel about that.

Pete53

Years ago when I went to Houston for one of my claims I made the mistake of being represented by the American Legion. I was called by the American Legion rep in Houston to be there about 1 1/2 hrs. before the hearing. It was 200 miles one way to Houston. I show up and unknown to me at the time the rep passed by on his way to lunch. I sat there with my wife waiting and waiting and the rep comes back from lunch and made me wait till about 5 minutes before the hearing to go over my claim. Needless to say it was the first and last time I dealt with the American Legion. They may be great, but at the Houston office at that time they were not very good. I lost my claim.

68mustang