120-Day Limit As A Claim-Processing Rule

[autumn]

09-1036 Henderson v. Shinseki (03/01/2011)

is this an actual ruling that went into effect?

its close to a year now still waiting on VARO to rate MS secondary conditions.

hasn't done much good to prod PVA about this or a congressman's office. VARO here walks to their own drum so to speak.

anyways, could someone let me know if this 120-day thing is real or not.

tia

[retiredat44]

I am sorry if I cannot answer your question, but I had a veters service officer (VSO, tell me that it didn't matter if I missed a deadline on something I am going ot file for.. that you just go ahead and file when you need to, that you can always get around dealines.. (paraphrasing..).

[autumn]

thanks for the reply. i see where i didn't even ask the question right. had it right in my mind. ;-)

what i was wondering is, can the raters take as long as eternity to rate something? like is there a process of quality assurance that claims get rated in some time frame or can they sit on them forever making any excuse they want as to why nothing has been rated.

i was thinking Mr Shinseki had put in place processes to get things moving along? i see now i was reading the wrong "120 day" article. my error. doesn't take long for the VA to "take" something away does it? ;-)

sorry for the confusion on my part, its a brain thing

[broncovet]

Autum

There are time limits the Veteran must meet, but the VA can take 10 or more years to decide your claim. There are no limits for the VA. If you think your claim is "stuck", that is, if it has been 18 months or more and your claim has not moved, you can file a "writ of mandamus" or you can try just sending an IRIS and asking the status.

While I agree with you that there should be a time limit, there are no time limits. If any of these congress critters had a backbone they would pass a law that required the VA to complete a Veterans claim in a reasonable period of time. The VA "milks" this to the max. When I filed my claim, one of the other Vets told me his claim was 5 years old. I did not believe him. Now, I know he was right.

[Berta]

The Supreme Court overturned Henderson's CAVC denial.

There is discussion here and at the VAWatchdog link in the posts there:

It regarded equitable tolling at the CAVC level.

Sec Shinseki has continually tried to put new procedures in place to speed up the claims process. Unfortunately they are seem to get snafued.

All VA claimants MUST comply with VA deadlines.

If not they must show good cause and hope VA will accept their excuse.

Henderson complied with all VA deadlines except the NOA CAVC deadline.

[autumn]

Autum

There are time limits the Veteran must meet, but the VA can take 10 or more years to decide your claim. There are no limits for the VA. If you think your claim is "stuck", that is, if it has been 18 months or more and your claim has not moved, you can file a "writ of mandamus" or you can try just sending an IRIS and asking the status.

While I agree with you that there should be a time limit, there are no time limits. If any of these congress critters had a backbone they would pass a law that required the VA to complete a Veterans claim in a reasonable period of time. The VA "milks" this to the max. When I filed my claim, one of the other Vets told me his claim was 5 years old. I did not believe him. Now, I know he was right.

gee. i kinda thought this but was hoping it wasn't like that. no wonder it takes so long.

and in the big picture how much time does this really waste for all parties without time frames in place.

thx

[autumn]

The Supreme Court overturned Henderson's CAVC denial.

There is discussion here and at the VAWatchdog link in the posts there:

It regarded equitable tolling at the CAVC level.

Sec Shinseki has continually tried to put new procedures in place to speed up the claims process. Unfortunately they are seem to get snafued.

All VA claimants MUST comply with VA deadlines.

If not they must show good cause and hope VA will accept their excuse.

Henderson complied with all VA deadlines except the NOA CAVC deadline.

i don't understand that if Sec Shinseki is head of the VA why his procedures get "snafued"? who snafues them, VA or Congress? does writing a Congress person help to get these procedures in place or is the varo types going to continue to be like a criminal org?