How Long After Bva Made A Decision.........?

[iraqx2]

Hello good people ! Its been an amazing ride which may come to a happy conclusion. This could have been left in the the Success Section but the final step is not there yet.

Guys, I have been disputing with the VA for years about an effective date that they goofed up on. Appeals and appeals, it finally went to the BVA and I got the brown enveloped yesterday.

I am a nervous and paranoida wrecked right now. The BVA granted the case in my favor. THIS IS HUGE !!!

I just need to know how long will they process my retro and to WEED OUT any possible monkey wrenches. The issue is simple, I disagree with an effective date and BVA agree with me, no other issues with disabilities and such.

So I am assuming that BVA sends their decision and my file back to my VARO? And from there, they would calculate the payment ( if any, fingers cross )?

I'll post another thread soon. I can't stress enough how important to be on top of your claims and never give up. The most deadly tool we have in our arsenal is the power to appeal. I'd always believe they were wrong and never never never gave up because the truth shall come someday.

Thank you so much !

[Berta]

I think maybe I should have refrained from posting my situation on that claim.

Best to clarify it. It was an extreme situation.

You all know I won FTCA and 1151 DIC for the wrongful death of my husband.,due to VA malpractice.

IThen in 2003, at my daughter's urging (she was in the Military at that time) I re opened the claim as there was a signifiant additional malpracticed condition never diagnosed or treated by VA and it was DMII and he was an AO exposed Vietnam Vet.

I ad never considered he could have had DMII before.

I had to carefully word this claim. The wording of the claim took over 2 weeks for me to feel comfortable with the way it was prepared to avert a denial based on the fact I was already awarded 1151 DIC.

I could not file under 1151 again so I had to get around that problem but still raise the claim for a disability that never appeared once in his SMRs, VA med recs, nor even during the FTCA process and medical review via VA Central and the OGC.

In most FTCA cases, the FTCA offset to 1151 comp or DIC can be restored with a subsequent award for direct or presumptive service connection of the same malpracticed disability or wrongful death.

I am oversimplyfying that FTCA law here because there are many nuances to Tort claims.

A long time ago ,I had filed for DIC under 3 separate theories, and in a BVA decision I got ( a denial of one theory but subsequently awarded under a different theory at the RO prior to this BVA decision ) the BVA made this same point regarding my specific claims in that old denial.

There is no case law example however of a similiar type of claim.

When I got the VARO award,in 2009, it stated that since I get DIC under 1151 , the DIC awarded under the DMII death award due to AO was the same thing and they owed me no further money.

I went ballistic!

Another example of my VARO making up a regulation.and defying basic VA case law.

The claim resulted in about 100 thousand additional monetary benefits.to include a complete refund of the FTCA offset!

The wrongful death case FTCA settlement was separate from a SC death award .

The VA refused to consider the actual regulations I sent them for the offset refund, refused to advise me of the other ancillary benefits I was eligible for (REPS, Chapter retro, funeral expenses etc etc and even the regional counsel would not intervene so I called the US attorney who I dealt with long ago in VA DC (he sure remembered me) and advised him as to how I would proceed if the OGC didnt force the the VARO to pay me. It wasnt pretty.

I didn't graduate from a military school for nothing.I was well prepared for this battle.

And it all involved quite a rigamorale at OGC.

Finally some US attorney from VA sent the RO the same exact regs I had sent them and they paid me.

This was an unusual situation and I have never found a similiar case like it- both FTCA wrongful death and AO SC death

So .No one here should think their money would take this long after an award.

Still it goes to show VA will try to get widows to buy what ever they are selling sometimes and VA will fail to even consider regulations that apply to them. Also the RO ,multiple times regarding my claims and even my CUE claim tried to invoked VA regs and case law that doesn't even exist. And at the same time, disregarded all of my evidence.

I am not suggesting VA discriminates against us widows because we often get treated in the same crappy way vets get treated.

But Now is the time for ALL veterans to get your spouses up to speed on your VA claims and the DIC process.

With VA going paperless,it's time for the spouse to learn how to use the PC if they don't know how to.

The internet is one of the most powerful weaons we have to deal with the battlefield of the VA claims process.

Without it a survivor is forced to depend on a vet rep and then cannot determine if their advise is correct ,without the internet and everything that is here at hadit.

It is really imperative that your spouses knows what you know as to your claim and, even more importantly , understands your medical situation.

.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Berta

[john999]

There is often a pretty long wait to get the VARO to certify a claim to the BVA, and for the VARO to implement a BVA decision. It takes the BVA pretty long to do remands from CAVC as well. It has been one year since my CUE was remanded back to the BVA from the CAVC. There are strict time limits for us to appeal a decision to the BVA and CAVC and even to file an NOD. There are no time limits for the VA to act on anything. If you are one day late for most appeals in the VA they throw your claim out the window.

[deanbrt]

"and for the VARO to implement a BVA decision

I do not believe that to be true. The old average appears to have been 30-90 days and FAST letter 10-02 is still applicable. The reality is that the Nehmer decision has backed some VAROs back up

[iraqx2]

The thing that comes to mind is " Chain of Command" and " Hierachy" . If BVA is above VARO, they really can't dispute a higher decision. I am just hoping we are talking about the extreme cases of them screwing with us.

[deanbrt]

A BVA decision cannot be reversed by the VARO, except in the case of fraud. They can try to drag put processing it. The only resolution I see is to be politely persistent and be willing to go up the chain of command to get an answer.

[ken1939]

Iracx2,

Regarding time frames, here is how my latest venture with VA went.

I had a BVA hearing on 1/8/12. There were four issues to be resolved.

The BVA adjudicated the cllaim and wrote a decision dated 4/11/12. The decision was to award benefits for two of the issues and to remand the other two.

The file was then transferred to the Baltimore RO, (we thought for a determination of benefit amounts for the the two awarded issues - not so).

The Baltimore RO held the file for 2 months and nobody knows why, then shipped the file back to the BVA.

The BVA held the file untill 10/2012 and nobody knows why. The BVA then shipped the file back to the RO.

The case was assigned to a DRO on 10/5/2012 to complete the process.

Here is where the time line comes in:

My DAV rep told me that the DRO has 180 days from 10/5/2012 to complete the case.

I have no idea where this time line came from, but this is what I was told. This means my case should be completed on or before 4/3/2013.

I don't believe this. All I can do is pass along what I was told. It has been my experience that the DRO's make up their own rules. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. I have been dealing with them for 12 years and this is just the way it is.