Can "they" Cancel An Appeal?

[OSC]

Can the BVA just cancel or negatively decide your appeal without input from the Vet or am I looking at a possible quick approval? Also my appeal was for a de novo review request by a new DRO.

Here is what I found on ebenefits. I have yet to receive any letter and have made an IRIS request for clarification.

Timeline of Your Appeal

Date of Progress

Progress

Progress Office

03/09/2012

Local VA Office Decision

RO

12/18/2012

Notice of Disagreement (NOD)

RO

01/09/2013

Appeal Pending

BVA

06/13/2013

Decision & Claims File Dispatch

BVA

Details about your BVA Appeal received on no date

• Local VA Office of Jurisdiction: Reno, NV
• Power of Attorney: For more information about Powers of Attorney, please refer to FAQs
• Current Progress: Decision & Claims File Dispatch
• Current Progress Description: Your case has been received at BVA, and BVA has mailed your decision to you (and your representative, if any) and will be returning your claims file to the VA Medical Center. Please note that transit times vary, and there may be some lag time between when BVA forwards your claims file to its appropriate location and when that location receives it.

I also have a CUE claim pending which shows movement to PENDING DECISION APPROVAL. Both the Appeal and the CUE claim moved on ebenefits the same date of 06/13/2013.

From what I understand, it takes 2-5 years for an appeal to go through the system. I am looking at movement after only a few months.

Any guesses as to what is going on??

OSC

[Berta]

Odd...........

Maybe the BVA oombudsman can give you more info:

bva.ombudsman@va.gov

Phone number for Ombudsman 1-202-565-5436

I always emailed the ombudsman when I was at the BVA,years ago ,to get a hard copy status reply..

"I also have a CUE claim pending which shows movement to PENDING DECISION APPROVAL. Both the Appeal and the CUE claim moved on ebenefits the same date of 06/13/2013."

Interesting and I know how hard it is to wait this out......

"From what I understand, it takes 2-5 years for an appeal to go through the system. I am looking at movement after only a few months."

I had a CUE claim pending at RO level for almost 8 years and it was set for BVA transfer, but then the Nehmer VARO awarded it last year.

I wrote to the BVA to withdraw my 1-9 appeal on the CUE , and they responded to me right away, and took the transfer off the docket because the claim had been awarded at the RO level.

I dont know if the RO can do that...if a case,docketed by the BVA, is awarded at the RO level , does the RO send notification to the BVA that the I-9 is moot?

hope others chime in on this one here.......

When I was at the BVA long ago on another matter, I won at the RO under one of the bases for my claim ,making the I-9 a moot issue. However the BVA went ahead and decided the !-9,denying the issue I did not get an award on at the VARO level.

Then years later, the BVA awarded me under the other basis as well.

I am glad I did not know enough then to formally withdraw my i-9 when I got the first award because the BVA made a statement in that decision that was GOLDEN and years later brought me additional monetary benefits

and the BVA statement supported a big ruckus I had with the VA that I got the General Counsel to order them to promptly resolve. It involved a very high 5 figure award.Maybe 6 figure, as I recall.as it regarded multiple ancillary benefits.

Have you ever told us about your CUE claim here????

I love CUEs and think the worst CUE claims are the ones no veteran has never filed.But could have.

If a veteran is familiar enough with the CUE regs and feels at least" as likely as not"' that VA legally buggered up a decision they got, it is well worth the veteran (or widow/widowers) while to file the CUE claim.

Or to at least get some good opinions on it here.at hadit.

[Berta]

I found a few of your older posts......

is it possible that you submitted a IMO for the PAD claim????????

[broncovet]

Ebenefits is notoriously unreliable. This being said, what did your AB8 letter say? Sometimes this will be the first place a Veteran finds out he gets a favorable or unfavorable decision.

I agree with Berta, especially on her part about "the worst CUE is the one the Veteran does not file". Filing a successful Cue requires doing your homework, IMHO. You have to allege a specific regulation that the Va violated...they wont "fill in the blanks" for you. And, you need to be careful not to file a CUE that involves any type of a judgement call, such as I think I deserve 70% and not the 10% I got, because the "criteria" are flexible. The mental health criteria, for example, says something like..."by such symptoms as".....this does not mean these are the only symptoms...it means that you COULD have these symptoms and be awarded, but you may have one, none, or all these symptoms!! It makes the percentage a judgement call not appealble by CUE.

[71M10]

All of my appeals that were being worked at Detroit VARO indicated the the action pending was with the BVA (even though the SOC was not done yet).

it sounds like they are sending some decision your way, but beyond that I wouldn't venture to guess what it is.

[OSC]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Here is a synopsis of my claim so you can better get an idea of what “they” are deciding.

In March of 2012 I was granted service connection for my IHD and DMII with PN upper under presumptive AO exposure in Vietnam. At that time I was denied compensation for my PAD problem and surgeries by the VA, with the reasoning (from a C&P) that the cause was hypertension so I was not service connected for the PAD.

In 1992, when I finally left the service, I was denied service connection by the VA for hypertension.

Since I had kept all my records and had received my “C” file, I went through those records to see what might be in them and found for years, blood pressure readings that were way out of the 120/80 normal range. So in July 2012 I filed a claim for a couple of new things and adding what I considered a CUE for the hypertension.

Then in January 2013, because I had not heard anything about the CUE claim and to preserve my legal rights of appeal, I filed the NOD for the March 2012 decision.

In April 2013 I had another C&P where I was able to show and prove to the doctor with documentation in my service records of multiple instances of hypertension while on active duty to where he realized I SHOULD have been diagnosed with hypertension. He stated that I should NOT have been denied service connection in 1992 and was going to write up his report that way. He also stated that since my hypertension would now be service connected, my PAD problems would now be covered as secondary issues. (I have a copy of that C&P and the doctor did in fact do as he said).

Then on 06/13/2013 I sent off an IRIS email asking about the VCAA info that showed as still being needed which was sent 4 times and all of a sudden both my claim and appeal had movement on ebenefits.

This is where we are at today and I’m just in the waiting mode.

I have not used a VSO and have done everything myself (with a lot of help from the boards, which I thank you all for).

OSC

PS. Thank you Berta...I followed your advice and got that doctor to service connect the hypertension.

Edited June 27, 2013 by OSC

[Berta]

It sounds to me like they will make an award!

"He stated that I should NOT have been denied service connection in 1992 and was going to write up his report that way. He also stated that since my hypertension would now be service connected, my PAD problems would now be covered as secondary issues. (I have a copy of that C&P and the doctor did in fact do as he said)."

GREAT. And you certainly seem to have a potential for CUE in the 1992 decision, if the HBP ,at that time, was at a ratable level.

VA misdiagnosed my husband's PAD as well as other stuff (Dr. Bash put the PAD in his IMO)but I never claimed the PAD under 1151. I do have a 1151 HBP claim pending.

You did VERY well and I am glad I could help, as others here did too. But you yourself did the leg work for this claim.

I thought maybe my husbands DMII and/or IHD caused his PAD but I understand that the doctor attributed the PAD,in your case, directly to the HBP.

PAD is not the same as PN and the VA has to rate these (and SC them if SC is warranted) separately.

Do you still have the 1992 decision?

If so can you scan and attach it here (cover the personal stuff)....but .no hurry on that .....maybe best to see what comes next and then think about a CUE claim which we can advise on here.

When I was in the 'waiting mode' as a long term hardcore VA claimant, I found ,as I sensed a decision was getting close----- that it was best for me not to try to think about anything else,like a CUE claim, until I got what VA said in the decision I waited for -as that decision might contain some clues to help shape any additional new claim.

My 1151 IHD claim's evidence is all from VA Central and the OGC. They admitted to malpractice on my husband's HBP in 1997 but there was so much more to that situation , that I never focused in on the HBP under 1151.Until last year.

In the AO IHD regs it bothered me that they specifically mentioned that PAD was not coming under the IHD criteria.

I wish they had added a codicil, stating that if the veteran has AO IHD and also PAD, they should get a real doctor to state in an IMO if the HBP caused the PAD with a full medical rationale.

(yeah right- VA would never say something like that).

I am so glad that your doctor , a VA doctor, did take the time to go over your SMR evidence and he did the right thing.

If we had more C & P docs ,like him, ....willing to do that...it would help reduce the backlog and better yet, give vets more fair and equitable treatment from the VA in these C & Ps, and could even help create some better PR than what VA has gotten lately because it would show the VA does care,when the evidence is at hand.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Berta