Foia Guidelines. Getting Nowhere.....sue In Federal Court May Be The Only Way

[Capt.]

Hello All,

The FOIA guidelines I have researched and after over 20 of them which have been very poor return efforts , I thought it would be good to let our members see what the law says and what is available.

Basically once you start FOIA and you start the process , keeping records of correspondance is important. Yes send request certified so they sign for it. Now this is not just VAROs but any government agency. If they will not release records that are not sensitive to national security as discussed in this document then the Veteran or Survivors can file suit in Federal Court. There may be monetary damages as should be , and the Federal Court can make a ruling to force the reports to be given to the Veteran. I would also like to share that according to the regulations in this document , the Veteran only has 6 years to file the Court Case. I personally believe that many of our Veterans are left to this drastic measure and should not be held hostage on their records. This will include the failure to react to FOIA s on C and P exams. Perhaps if enough Veterans File Federal Lawsuits on this issue then it will get the VA and Congress , IG attention. HHHHmmmmmmm imagine if all of our members submitted FOIAs and after the wait period and no answer everyone just went down and file the suit in your local Federal Court House. Now that would get some requested documents and probably a change to attitude of why you should not mess with our Veterans Due Process laws.

To further expound on this , the problem of why FOIAs are so ignored brings the Due Process or Lack their of to our Veterans and obvious violation of a Veterans Rights. (SEE SECTION V and VI of the enclosed Document) Remember the one year appeal process means if you do not have your records because of FOIA failure request then your in a position of having a faulty claim and has to be dealt with at a higher court to deal with this massive problem. Above all a Veteran must remember to NEVER GIVE UP . God Bless, C.C. HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL

FOAI Rules for VA.pdf

Edited November 21, 2012 by Capt.Contaminate

[broncovet]

CC

Good post. Its about time someone stopped the VA from pushing Vets around like they do. Getting a copy of your C file, which is difficult to get the VA to act on in a reasonable period of time, is the first step in determing what is going on with your claim...we have no way of knowing how much, if anything, the VA has shredded without that. A lot of times we dont know the VA shredded our evidence until we get a denial saying something like, "The record is absent for the Veteran receiving treatment for x conditiion". Sometimes we know that is not true, but how do we prove we were treated? Well we need those medical records and the VA controls them, and often they dont want us to have them. Why? Well, armed with that knowledge and evidence, we can often win our benefits, and the VA doesnt want that to happen!

I agree with you that the VA should be sued for not promptly providing a copy of our C file. Time after time they delay this, so much of the time we wind up appealing without having that knowledge of knowing "what records does the VA have on me?"

I will add that the VA HAS been known to falsify Veterans records in order to deny:

http://www.vdpi.org/Fed-Circuit-Decision.pdf

Edited November 21, 2012 by broncovet

[Chuck75]

Please note that time limits have been considered to be satisfied by the VA by sending an acknowledgement of your FOIA request.

Evidently, there is not a reasonable time limit to actually provide the requested records.

This is one area where getting a lawyer involved may help in getting the VA to provide the records in a more timely manner.

[john999]

When I got my C-File and really looked at it I found a copy of my original 1973 rating decision. Then I found a report from my private doctor dated 1972. I put 2 and 2 together and realized the VA had never used my doctor's report in my decision in 1973. Thanks to Hadit a bell started clanging in my head and I realized I might just have a CUE. If I had not gotten the copy of my file I never would have realized this because it had been so long ago. They could have just thrown the report from my doctor away and I would never have known it, but they are so arrogant and lazy they never looked in my file that deep in 30 years. Everyone with an old claim should read it again. My old claim is 40 years old and looks nothing like claims these days. It looks like a note from a claim.

[broncovet]

John...

So, did you win your CUE from 1972 based on the RO not considering your medical record? I thought they could just say..."oh we considered your records and denied you anyway so it isnt CUE...we dont have to put in the decision that we considered the entire record because its required."