Need Some Help With Form 9

[joeyjoeyb]

Well my NOD came back after 18 months and my sleep apnea was denied again. I am going to write up the form 9 and get in line. I have an idea of what I want to say, but am not sure how to start it out. I want to cite a few BVA cases that mirror mine in the form 9. Any help with some examples would be awesome!! thanks in advance

[joeyjoeyb]

Anyone? Bueller....Bueller....??

[Berta]

Tell them on the i-9 form why the decision is wrong and refer to them (and attach again) any evidence the RO did not consider.

[Berta]

sorry forgot to add - tell them on one page one as much as you can get into the small area for the statement of the appeal and refer them to additional pages if needed.Tell them WHY they are wrong.

I found my old appeal. I raised a VCAA issue first as my VCAA letter had been deficient. That is probably not your situation here.

The first thing the BVA does is check to see if the VCAA letter was compliant to the VCAA regs.

Then I told them WHY their RO decision was wrong:

Appeal: ISSUE # 1 of 2:

Direct Service Connected Death of Rod Simmons due to Diabetes Mellitus from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam as causing/contributing to his untimely death.

"The Buffalo VARO , by consistently ignoring my irrefutable, indisputable, and probative medical evidence-to include an Independent Medical Opinion from Dr. Craig Bash whose area of Special Knowledge gives him a professional rationale for this opinion, and a statement from Dr. Hamid Rabiee, significant as to this doctor’s entries in the veteran’s VA medical records and conversation with the veteran and me, as former treating VA physician, along with evidence I submitted from the veteran’s medical records, FTCA documents, Section 1151 award, prior SOCs, and autopsy, which I correlated with medical information on diabetes known within the standard medical community and also within VA itself via VA Training Letter and C & P regarding diabetes, has continued to deny a claim that rests well within the Doctrine of Reasonable Doubt as the evidence I have submitted fully outweighs the rationale of the VA examiner, as found within the December SSOC, that I received on Dec 23rd,2005."

I attached again copies of all evidence the RO had ignored and by then had an additional IMO as well to include and I attached an evidence list with the I-9 and a detailed reference sheet along with copies of specific entries in the veteran's clinical record as well as the other documents mentioned above.

My long term relationship with this RO caused me to make sure I sent the BVA copies of EVERYTHING as my C file managed to get smaller rather then larger over the last 15 years and the good stuff was always missing from it.

Send the VARO a copy of the I-9 too as -when they prepare an I-8-to send to the BVA with the appeal = you might lucky and have someone actually read the appeal and this could trigger another possible review.

[joeyjoeyb]

I am wodering if I should state cases that were decided favorably by the BVA. There are a few cases out there that mirror mine. Even time in service.

[Pete53]

Cite the Cases and key parts of the decisions. Remember that only CVA cases bind the VA but BVA cases cite regs that apply,

I did that and won

[Berta]

Please correct me if I am wrong here- I went back to some older posts in this thread-

"I submitted buddy letters and a letter from my wife that explains alot of symptoms. Not sure what else I can do. They denied it because they said lay statements do not work. It is in this thread the reason for the last denial"

Did VA acknowledge the buddy statements at all?

Did the Buddys give their unit and MOS and tell VA when and where they served (which VA compares to when and where you served )and how they could give eye witness account of your sleep habits inservice?

(Obviously they would have had to share the same sleeping quarters with you)

Buddy statements should also be notarized (in my opinion) and contain a way that VA could contact the buddy to verify or get more details on the statement.

Did your personnel records in the Military reveal that you were late for any duty or were written up someway for sleepiness and fatigue on duty?