Did Not Claim A Cue, But Asked For A Reconcideration?

[stillhere]

I while back I posted on here about my hearing claim being approved on basically the same evidence the VA has had from my first claim for hearing loss back in 83 that was denied.

I was thinking of filing a cue at that time but instead went with a reconsideration. On ebenefits it is showing the VA is treating my claim as a comp&pin claim. They just sent me a request for any other evidence I might have??

In my letter to them I specifically asked for a reconsideration based on the facts that are in my folder from 1983-to present. I asked them to review my folder and give me an earlier ED based solely on my file.

This request for new eveidence is totally out of what I am trying to do. How would I respond to this request?

Advice them again to read my letter and proceed with their review or send another letter spelling out what I feel in detail the reasons I beleive they have made a mistake on my effective date?

Thanks to all, Stillhere

[Berta]

I would suggest sending them an IRIS via the COntact US thing at the main VA web site.

tell them exactly what you need to be clarified and ask for an email reply (so that cant backtrack if they call you by phone)

Send the IRIS as a Compliant, because the ebenefits info is confusing. The complaint menu is right there in the IRIS stuff.

IRIS complaints go to VA Central so you should get a detailed response.

"In my letter to them I specifically asked for a reconsideration based on the facts that are in my folder from 1983-to present. I asked them to review my folder and give me an earlier ED based solely on my file. "

That makes sense to me but it might mean you need to file a CUE. From what I see here.

EEDS can go back to one year prior to the date of claim in some circumstances, but an EED back to 1983 means the claim had to be continuously appealed since 1983.

Maybe I am misunderstanding what you want.

Reconsideration Requests ....

Last one I made, garnered me many letters of BS from the VA, that I rebutted with evidence, thinking it appeared they were working on the request until the last letter when they tried to sell me on a regulation they made up.

Luckily I filed my NOD within days of the deadline.

My reconsideration request was regarding a denial on a CUE claim I filed in 2004.They had ignored all of my legal evidence.

Since my NOD was timely filed,for that claim,

the Nehmer people at the Philadelphia VARO,

,who I reminded of this pending CUE, that superceded my AO IHD claim, awarded the CUE last year without any fuss.

The legal evidence clearly supported my original CUE claim. It only took 8 years.

You can file a CUE claim at any time. My CUE was on a legal error VA committed in 2 unappealed decisions,one in 1997 and then 1998.

My former rep said not to appeal it because it came under 1151. What a dope I was to believe him there.

You could ask for a NOD time extension , that is explained in M21-1MR if you feel you have good cause.VA however doesn't define 'good cause'.Maybe it means getting an NOD extension due to being hooked up to advanced life support stuff.

I tried that , I asked for NOD extension even though I filed the timely NOD, and will let all know how it works.

Last year the Nehmer Award decision I got contained a CUE and I asked VA to call a CUE on itself in October and correct their error.Of course I had plenty of legal evidence to support the request for them to CUE themselves.And proof of what VA had at time of the alleged CUE with a manifested altered outcome.

I then filed a timely NOD in early 2013 , reminding them they have to address my October 2010 CUE request first. If not, they have given me good cause to request an extension on my NOD deadline as it should be prepared, with their decision on my CUE request, that they have not made , or even be unneeded, as I expect, since they had committed a CUE in their Nehmer decision that is well supported by my evidence, and all VA case law itself,so that all VA has to do is call the CUE on themselves and send me the cash.

or words to that affect.

It will be interesting.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Berta

[meghp0405]

I agree with what berta has stated. I would also add a comment about the VA's request. In that packet you should of had a VCAA Notice of Response letter. I would attach this to the letter you compiled. Check the top block, sign, date and send it registered. If not, the VA will hold your claim for 90 days with no progress.

[Teac]

You need to file a CUE, plan and simple anything else that you do at this point is a waste of time... I would file the CUE and ask for the earlier effective date. Asking for a reconsideration might have worked if the request pertained to a recent claim, but not one that goes back to 1983.

[Berta]

Yeah, that might not be a bad idea Teac...why wait to file the CUE claim.

It is highly unlikely that this claim has been pending continuously since 1983 anyhow........but nothing would surprise me...

Meg mentioned the VCAA response letter whereby you elect to what box you check off.

My 2003 VCAA letter was erroneous. The VA diodnt send me the election form and the entire letter was prejudicial to my claim.

I sent them AGAIN the same evidence they had mentioned and the VA denied saying I didnt respond to their VCAA Resonse form letter (which I didnt get)

Someone here at hadit attached a blank response form for me but I felt uncomfortable with using something VA didnt send directly to me.

I cpomplained to my vet rep, his boss, and even to the Director of the state , and then to the Governor because my former POA ,who got the exact same VCAA crap I got did not have the goonyats to support me on a CUE request or to at least to get a proper VCAA letter along with the response form,which to me appeared to be an easy request a POA should make.

Long story.I even complained to the Office of General Counsel.Under 14.633 I think it was.

I am satisfied with the outcome , which did not result from the OGC complaint.

(I should have asked them to CUE themselves on the illegal VCAA letter but didnt) At some point I got hold of a vet rep on this POA who was only temporarly in the local state office at our local VAMC.

He opened my POA file, read the VCAA letter they got and said right away Hey this isnt a legal VCAA notice at all..

tell me about it.....I had a letter from his director saying it was legal...I bet no one had even read it until that same day the temp rep did.

The my POA dumped me and I asked the BVA ( it was on appeal at that point, to remand the claim due to the VCAA violation and they did.

I knew the evidence would succeed anyhow.

The BVA remanded however for one more VA C & P cardio opinion.

I already told here how I got a PA opinion and knocked it down myself with rebuttal to the BVA.

Claim went back to the BVA after the C & P , and the board stated the evidence was at least in Relative equipoise and in essense my evidence had mitigated the damage of the deficient VCAA notice and they awarded it

Maybe I am the sole person who never got a VCAA Response form from the VA.

I know I am not the sole person who got deficient VCAA letters. The BVA has had to remand countless claims back to ROs since VCAA came out.

If a veteran or widow/widower gets a VCAA letter that might even make sense ,but the response form is not with the letter, VA has committed a CUE and their 'forgetfulness' will cause the claim to be denied.

This stuff does not happen in a vacuum.They (the RO) had also tried to disallow me to even reopen this claim. HA HA fixed them there too.

Edited March 8, 2013 by Berta

[john999]

File the CUE if you have one. Asking for an EED back to 1983 on a final decision would have to be a CUE. Once the claim is final the only way to open it up back to the original date is a CUE. You have to show the exact error that occurred in your 1983 rating. I am going back to 1973 and even when you have evidence of error you face a hell of a fight when asking for 30-40 years of retro.

John

[stillhere]

THANKS! I am out of town now and went to the ebenefit site, and saw they had moved me to request for evidence and was a little actually a lot suprised! Don't they read their mail??

I am trying to remember the member here saying I should go with a recon instead of a cue but name seems to slip my thinking. When I get back to my home on Tuesday next I know I will have quite a bit of mail to go through. John999 and Berta bot recommended a cue and Meg is probably right I am wasting my time not doing it now.

I just don't understand why if the VA has a letter from the vet stating he is asking for a reconcideration based on what is in his file. They just can't review the file and then give me my decession and I can then move on with a NOD or a CUE which ever my lawyer will recommend.

This latest approval was based on a C&P that they finally gave me after 7 years of getting them to reopen my file. Of course was they did and I went to for my C&P it proved beyond a doubt that I should be granted SC! Based not only on my MOS at the time, but also on the bogus exit exam which any compintent audio person could see. My entrance exam showed I had a hearing loss and then my exit exam showed I had perfect hearing?? Now that is a fluke if anyone has heard one. Why the only went back to 05 is the big question since everything was in my folder and should have been enough to show it.

Hope to find out more when I get back and will post some questions to see how to take this further.

Thank you again, Stillhere