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Rights To Appeal

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Steppenwolf

Question

On Mar 7th 2010 i received a travel board decision and given 120 days from the date on the decision to reply.

These are the choices i was given:

1 Appeal to the US Court of Appeals for Vet Claims

2 File with the board a motion for reconsideration of this decision

3 File with the board a motion to vacate this decision

4 File with the board a motion for revision of this decision based on clear and unmistakable error.

"Although it would not affect this BVA decision, you may chose also:

5 Reopen your claim at the local VA office by submitting new and material evidence."

According to the two page of VA form 4597 ; if i understand it correctly, #1 is a must if i want to go that route.

Besides # 1 there are these other choices. Can someone explain to me under what circumstances i would ask for a reconsideration vs a revision vs vacating "this decision"?

Thanks

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A Motion for Reconsideration would be appropriate if the VA has significant information and evidence that-for some reason -they have failed to address.

Can you tell us exactly why they denied?

Was any evidence you produced during the traveling board hearing properly addressed by the BVA?

What advise have you gotten from anyone with POA on your claim?

The CAVC sure does not reverse many BVA decisons.

Often the best bet at the CAVC is that the CAVC grants a remand back to the VARO due to a legal error in the BVA decision.

No NEW evidence can be submitted to the CAVC. They decide the case on whatever VA had at time of the BVA decision.

A CAVC remand from US CAVC however could potentially open the door to allow more evidence to come in.

But this all gets back to one thing- the VCAA letter you got when you first filed this claim.

Is there anything there that you overlooked which they asked for?

The BVA web site under their search feature of decisions might have some cases of Motion to Reconsider etc that would help you.

As far as CAVC goes, once you get on the docket -if you choose that route- then lawyers will probably contact you as the docket info is public.

I heard from 12 of them when I filed a writ many years ago at the CAVC.

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Berta,

i'm off the the VA ER now and will reply to your questions when i get back.

i do want to ask you this: when you ask me: " Can you tell us exactly why they denied? " Do you want the judges words or do you want to know why i think they denied me? Of course my opinion is mostly subjective but there is one mistake that was made in the original decision that has perpetuated every denial since then. In short the first decision states that medical records were received after the initial decision and the writer of the decision suggests appealing. i did appeal. My POA read the decision and suggested "not muddying the waters" by adding more new evidence. He suggested appealing simpley for consideration of those records that were mentioned in the decision.

The appeal was denied for not supplying any new and material evidence. The POA who suggested to "do nothing", was gone and so much time had passed that it was near impossible to get the new POA to understand what had happened. That one fact has never been addressed. Isn't that "clear and unmistakable error"?

A Motion for Reconsideration would be appropriate if the VA has significant information and evidence that-for some reason -they have failed to address.

Can you tell us exactly why they denied?

Was any evidence you produced during the traveling board hearing properly addressed by the BVA?

What advise have you gotten from anyone with POA on your claim?

The CAVC sure does not reverse many BVA decisons.

Often the best bet at the CAVC is that the CAVC grants a remand back to the VARO due to a legal error in the BVA decision.

No NEW evidence can be submitted to the CAVC. They decide the case on whatever VA had at time of the BVA decision.

A CAVC remand from US CAVC however could potentially open the door to allow more evidence to come in.

But this all gets back to one thing- the VCAA letter you got when you first filed this claim.

Is there anything there that you overlooked which they asked for?

The BVA web site under their search feature of decisions might have some cases of Motion to Reconsider etc that would help you.

As far as CAVC goes, once you get on the docket -if you choose that route- then lawyers will probably contact you as the docket info is public.

I heard from 12 of them when I filed a writ many years ago at the CAVC.

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i know it's been a while. i wasn't at the ER that long but i do get lost from time to time and next thing i know a few weeks have passed by.

Berta: "Can you tell us exactly why they denied?"

Every denial is rooted in: " No service records" except for one which was called "congenital"

The one condition that was approved was approved with IMO's and VA service records and statements by VA doctors.

The "back condition" may have been denied because the VSO who submitted it for me asked for "generative back disorder" and those words do not exist in my service records. There are three or four specific incidents where i was confined to the barracks with no duty and RX'd pain meds, and muscle relaxants and Valium. Twice they called it "back strain" once they called in "dislocated back". De-generative back disease was DX'd at the VA a couple years after discharge.

Berta:

"Was any evidence you produced during the traveling board hearing properly addressed by the BVA?"

Properly? Maybe some could have been properly addressed but more was not properly addressed.

Berta:

"What advise have you gotten from anyone with POA on your claim?"

Had it not been for one POA in FL who went over every aspect of my case and help me put it together AGAIN i would be going through what i'm going through now with guys who don't have a clue about the details and suggest the wrong things to say and or do. If you read my service records and VA records and could correlate a connection between "back strain" and disc disease then you wouldn't ask for something that you know is going to get shot down. How do i go back now and ask for the right thing and then make the connection?

The worst advice so far has always been the same thing: "Do nothing"! Only to get a decision from the VA saying: "Denied because we asked you for new evidence and you gave us nothing"

Berta: "Is there anything there that you overlooked which they asked for?"

Yes. I had new evidence but my POA refused to submit it for me which resulted in another letter from VARO saying "You didn't respond in time...."

A Motion for Reconsideration would be appropriate if the VA has significant information and evidence that-for some reason -they have failed to address.

Can you tell us exactly why they denied?

Was any evidence you produced during the traveling board hearing properly addressed by the BVA?

What advise have you gotten from anyone with POA on your claim?

The CAVC sure does not reverse many BVA decisons.

Often the best bet at the CAVC is that the CAVC grants a remand back to the VARO due to a legal error in the BVA decision.

No NEW evidence can be submitted to the CAVC. They decide the case on whatever VA had at time of the BVA decision.

A CAVC remand from US CAVC however could potentially open the door to allow more evidence to come in.

But this all gets back to one thing- the VCAA letter you got when you first filed this claim.

Is there anything there that you overlooked which they asked for?

The BVA web site under their search feature of decisions might have some cases of Motion to Reconsider etc that would help you.

As far as CAVC goes, once you get on the docket -if you choose that route- then lawyers will probably contact you as the docket info is public.

I heard from 12 of them when I filed a writ many years ago at the CAVC.

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