Va Fl 09-09

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NOTE:

VA Fast Letter 09-09.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Veterans Benefits Administration

Washington, DC 20420

February 12, 2009

Director (00/21) All VA Regional Offices

In Reply Refer To: 211

Fast Letter 09-09

SUBJ: Readjudication of Claims for AL Amyloidosis (ALA) and Other Diseases Under Nehmer

Background Information

On June 10, 2008, the Secretary sent a letter to the Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, stating that VA concluded the evidence established a presumption of service connection for ALA based on the exposure to herbicides in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era. As described below, a proposed regulation adding ALA to VA's list of presumptive diseases associated with herbicide exposure in Vietnam was recently published. Under the court order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Nehmer v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, C.A. No. C-86-6160 TEH (N.D. Cal.), VA must provide retroactive benefits to certain Nehmer class members (Vietnam veterans and their survivors) who filed claims for ALA, and other diseases listed in 38 CFR § 3.309(e), using 38 CFR § 3.816. This requirement involves claims filed or denied during the period from September 25, 1985, to the effective date of the VA regulation establishing a presumption of service connection for the disease claimed.