Bva Status Of Claim

[john999]

I called the BVA and was told that my claim has been decided and will be shipped out to me next week. This is my CUE claim. My lawyer never got back to me, so I called the BVA ombudsman. I can't believe I will win this thing. It seems to outlandish that the VA would admit they made an error that will cost them retro from 1971. Who knows? I have the evidence, but I think the BVA will kick the can down the road. They will find some reason to mininterpret my CUE and decide that I was asking for a reweight of the evidence. Me and my lawyer made it plain that is not what we were saying.

[john999]

I got a letter from the BVA today. It is addressed to my lawyer. I got the CC. It says I had a BVA Board Hearing in January of 2010. A BVA judge is reviewing my case. I thought that was what my hearing was about? Anyway, I think they made a decision after this letter was sent out, maybe. Why does it take them almost 7 months to make a decision on a point of law when my lawyer and I presented the whole case to a judge already. My lawyer wrote a brief. I testified. It was either a CUE or not a CUE. I don't understand the process. The whole point of a personal hearing is that the judge sees you and hears you. If you must wait 7 months for a decision then I am sure he has forgotten what I look like. I waited two years to finally get in front of a judge. I filed my CUE. It was immediately denied. I asked for a DRO Hearing. It was denied again. My lawyer asked for a personal hearing on top of the DRO. The CUE was denied. My lawyer went to the BVA. I am still waiting. What it is is that they just cannot see a way out of paying me, so they just deny it. Onward it goes. Will my lawyer drop the case if it is denied by the BVA?

How long do you have to wait if you take it to the veterans court? I am not going anywhere, but I am getting older.

It takes a lawyer with a lot of other cases cooking to wait 5 years on his investment. He has ridden with my claim all the way from the VARO to the BVA. I imagine he wants to win just to try and get his investment back. No SSD lawyer waits five years to get paid.

[pacmanx1]

John, I totally agree. I do not have a lawyer but I am waiting for VA to decide my CUE claims. I filed them in 2006 and they have been back and forth from the RO to BVA to the RO back to BVA and now back to the RO again. I am hoping that I get a decent rating and not just a rubber stamp. I am very glad that BVA did not agree with the original VA decision and remanded my claims. It makes me feel that my claims are legitimate since all the evidence was in my records and they denied/low balled my claims knowing the condition and the things I have been going through. It just rubs me the wrong way and I can't even imagine if they had made the right decision years ago I could be in a better situation. Please keep me posted, I am really interested in what VA will say about your claim. I think that we are in the same boat or at least it seems like the same boat.

[john999]

Pete992

Yes, if the VA had rated me according to the evidence I could have had a much easier time trying to rehabilitate myself. I basically got myself back on my feet on my own. It took me much longer being that I was broke and getting just 10% from the VA. I will keep all posted. The VA back in the 70's was so bad that if you showed the slightest level of improvement they would reduce your rating. I was in a *&&^ sandwich. Go to school and get better and they cut your disability. Stop trying and end up institutionalized.

[Testvet]

John as long as there are appeal channels still open than a good lawyer is not going to just drop it, if they see a way to get a payday they will pursue the claim VA claims aren't expensive to handle they just take forever to win so a great VA lawyer will probably be handling hundreds of open cases and if they can settle 4-5 month on average then they can make a decent living if they are only settling 2-3 a year they won't keep taking VA cases unless it is pro bono work to make them feel better about charging corporate clients 3-500 an hour there really are not that many full time veteran lawyers per capita in the US some states have 2-3 some have none and if you have a lawyer that does not know VA law then you really don't have a lawyer but as long as they see hope of the payday they won't walk away with appeals still available

[carlie]

The whole point of a personal hearing is that the judge sees you and hears you. If you must wait 7 months for a decision then I am sure he has forgotten what I look like.

John999,

Sweetie - pie, I have to enlighten you on something. The Judge that held your hearing -

he won't actually be looking at your claim again at all when he and the file get back to DC.

Your claim will be adjudicated by a lawyer that is under your Judge, there are several under each judge.

This lawyer will do the work on it and make the decisions, then it will go into another pile

and sit on the Judges desk. When the Judge is ready he will go thru the claims on his desk

and just sign the bottom lines of the Orders and Remands, without double checking anything else

concerning the claim.

The same thing as a Nurse doing a C&P examination and the doctor signing off on it.

My CUE claim at BVA involved an issue of headaches that was denied on a rating decision from Oct. 1978.

The lawyer at BVA that answered my CUE, is so F'd up he stated there is no CUE in the 1978 rating decision

because a Rating Decision in 1982 granted my seizures as SC'd from the day following separation, so a claim

for CUE would be a moot issue.

Excuse me - - BUT - - Seizures Diagnostic Code 8910/8911 - mentions NOTHING about headaches.

The criteria percentages for seizures ONLY DEALS WITH THE FREQUENCY OF SEIZURES during given time periods

such as how many seizures during the last X amount of months or last year.

Another point is my CUE claim is on a Rating Decision dated Oct 1978 - there is SUPPOSED to be NO CONSIDERATION

of any evidence that was not of record in the Oct 1978 Rating Decision.

The BVA does or is supposed to give the claim a whole new look - but they are F'd up too.

[john999]

Oh, great, more delays. I think my lawyer did say that if we did not win at bva he would get together with another lawyer who does vet court cases and go from there. This is what I expect. Nothing has ever been easy for me with the VA. Why do they even bother having personal hearings in front of the VA judge? It did seem just like an intake session. We were ready to make argument and the judge just brushed us off, and now I know why.