My 51 Day Bva Remand

[Berta]

As you all know I wrote to the Chairman of the Senate Committee of Veterans Affairs who is involved in the Backlog sub committee. I was furious that I was now part of the BVA remand backlog and that RO had violated my rights to get me there.

Five days after he received my letter the Senator sent a letter to the Buffalo VARO.

They gave it to the Congressional Liason person who appeared not to know what to do as to answering it.

The RO had transferred my claim to the BVA on July 18th in direct violation of established VA case law and since I am willing to fight for my rights, I got it remanded already and it is in "active appeals process"

and for the first time in 3 years and 8 months my evidence will be considered.

I also put extreme pressure on my vet reps too and they are now forced to suuport me since they havent all these years.I have pressured them on behalf of all veterans in NYS that they also provided inadequate representation to -as supported by a list of their BVA remands-which I sent to them. Years added to a veterans claim due to violation of the VCAA and established BASIC VA regs and case laws.

The RO sent the letter from Senator Craig to the BVA.I guess they felt it would sit there for 2 years and it won't-it came back with my claim.

Not only did this remand prove what I complained to the Seantor about-it also shows how deficient these ROs can be, and that can be compounded with vet reps who do not know their jobs.

My point here is that some of us as claimants have to take extraordinary steps to get our claims and evidence read.

Evidence is everything. Read your SOCs carefully because whether they list it or not,it is meaningless if they do not review it in the narrative.

In my case much evidence was not even listed and things like General Counsel Pres Ops were called "internet printouts" ,and medical records were called "letters from the claimant" and never addressed, yet were probative to their handling of my claim.

The statistics (2002,2003,2004 )from the Knight Ridder report which I posted here last year-worth posting again- show what claimants were up against in the past and I bet those Remand figures have grown by now. It is just unconscionable that a veteran with a fully supported claim might get into the stack they do not work on properly, and get a vet rep who doesn't care and then they will be in for a VERY LONG WAIT at the BVA unless they act VERY fast as I did and try to get a fast remand.

You can have excellent evidences and IMOs -it doesn't matter at all if you somehow get into the above percentile of poor decisions makers and your SO stands by and watches this happen.

I am in the middle of a battle on this situation and it is the very regulations that the VA has which will make me succeed. The RO and my vet reps have to read those regs first-it is easier for them not to even consider basic established VA case law and the veteran can be set up for a long long wait for a proper decision.

from: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington...ge/13415145.htm

ns benefits cases that, once appealed, must be redone.

In the ranking below, the first category lists the Regional Office, the second is Total appeals acted on, and the third is the percentage of them remanded.

Regional Office Total appeals acted on % of them remanded

Huntington, W.Va 1,320 52.5%

Boston 1,321 51.2%

Columbia, S.C. 3,095 50.1%

Montgomery, Ala. 4,217 49.9%

Houston 2,214 49.7%

Wilmington, Del. 182 49.5%

Salt Lake City 383 49.3%

Baltimore 707 48.8%

Atlanta 2,152 48.7%

Denver 1,014 48.1%

Little Rock, Ark. 2,316 47.8%

Pittsburgh 2,420 47.8%

Reno, Nev. 863 47.7%

Boise, Idaho 482 47.5%

New York 1,730 46.7%

Newark, N.J. 1,289 46.7%

Cleveland 2,610 46.7%

Chicago 1,826 46.3%

Los Angeles 2,349 46.3%

Roanoke, Va 1,869 46.1%

New Orleans 2,421 46.1%

St. Petersburg, Fla. 5,762 45.8%

Oakland, Calif. 1,576 45.8%

Nashville, Tenn. 2,715 45.0%

Muskogee, Okla. 1,813 44.2%

Togus, Maine 482 44.2%

Washington, D.C. 666 44.0%

Philadelphia 1,454 43.7%

Winston-Salem, N.C. 2,690 42.5%

Wichita, Kan. 949 42.4%

St. Louis 2,116 42.3%

San Diego 740 42.0%

White River Junction, Vt. 169 42.0%

Jackson, Miss. 1,877 41.9%

Buffalo, N.Y. 1,620 41.9%

Seattle 893 41.8%

Albuquerque, N.M. 801 41.7%

Detroit 2,312 41.7%

Hartford, Conn. 628 41.6%

Honolulu 207 41.1%

Portland, Ore. 1,315 40.4%

Phoenix 1,594 40.3%

Waco, Texas 4,112 40.1%

Manchester, N.H. 260 40.0%

Louisville, Ky. 1,268 39.0%

Providence, R.I. 268 48.8%

Cheyenne, Wyo. 242 38.4%

Indianapolis 1,305 38.2%

Fort Harrison, Mont. 364 37.4%

Des Moines, Iowa 418 37.1%

Milwaukee, Wis. 492 37.0%

Lincoln, Neb. 1,174 36.0%

Anchorage, Alaska 149 32.2%

Fargo, N.D. 226 30.1%

Sioux Falls, S.D. 246 30.1%

St. Paul, Minn. 803 25.0%

TOTALS 87,025 44.3%

SOURCE: Knight Ridder analysis of VA appeals data for combined fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004. ________________________________________________________________

I have no idea what those figures are specifically for 2005 .

Under a search for "Remand" 2006 at the BVA-out of 15,775 cases 12,242 hold the word Remand in them.

Although that does not indicate in each case they were remanded for inadequate work at the RO level- a complete search I am doing of my own POA shows their 2006 remands to be violations of VCAA and other basic considerations of VA case law in the handling of the veteran's claims.

Edited September 22, 2006 by Berta (see edit history)

[Berta]

forgot what I meant to say-

the Buffalo RO ,due to my remand,now has to respond to my charges to Senator Craig- that was the consequence of their illegal actions-

and it will be very interesting to see how they handle it.

[Josephine]

As you all know I wrote to the Chairman of the Senate Committee of Veterans Affairs who is involved in the Backlog sub committee. I was furious that I was now part of the BVA remand backlog and that RO had violated my rights to get me there.

Five days after he received my letter the Senator sent a letter to the Buffalo VARO.

They gave it to the Congressional Liason person who appeared not to know what to do as to answering it.

The RO had transferred my claim to the BVA on July 18th in direct violation of established VA case law and since I am willing to fight for my rights, I got it remanded already and it is in "active appeals process"

and for the first time in 3 years and 8 months my evidence will be considered.

I also put extreme pressure on my vet reps too and they are now forced to suuport me since they havent all these years.I have pressured them on behalf of all veterans in NYS that they also provided inadequate representation to -as supported by a list of their BVA remands-which I sent to them. Years added to a veterans claim due to violation of the VCAA and established BASIC VA regs and case laws.

The RO sent the letter from Senator Craig to the BVA.I guess they felt it would sit there for 2 years and it won't-it came back with my claim.

Not only did this remand prove what I complained to the Seantor about-it also shows how deficient these ROs can be, and that can be compounded with vet reps who do not know their jobs.

My point here is that some of us as claimants have to take extraordinary steps to get our claims and evidence read.

Evidence is everything. Read your SOCs carefully because whether they list it or not,it is meaningless if they do not review it in the narrative.

In my case much evidence was not even listed and things like General Counsel Pres Ops were called "internet printouts" ,and medical records were called "letters from the claimant" and never addressed, yet were probative to their handling of my claim.

The statistics (2002,2003,2004 )from the Knight Ridder report which I posted here last year-worth posting again- show what claimants were up against in the past and I bet those Remand figures have grown by now. It is just unconscionable that a veteran with a fully supported claim might get into the stack they do not work on properly, and get a vet rep who doesn't care and then they will be in for a VERY LONG WAIT at the BVA unless they act VERY fast as I did and try to get a fast remand.

You can have excellent evidences and IMOs -it doesn't matter at all if you somehow get into the above percentile of poor decisions makers and your SO stands by and watches this happen.

I am in the middle of a battle on this situation and it is the very regulations that the VA has which will make me succeed. The RO and my vet reps have to read those regs first-it is easier for them not to even consider basic established VA case law and the veteran can be set up for a long long wait for a proper decision.

from: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington...ge/13415145.htm

ns benefits cases that, once appealed, must be redone.

In the ranking below, the first category lists the Regional Office, the second is Total appeals acted on, and the third is the percentage of them remanded.

Regional Office Total appeals acted on % of them remanded

Huntington, W.Va 1,320 52.5%

Boston 1,321 51.2%

Columbia, S.C. 3,095 50.1%

Montgomery, Ala. 4,217 49.9%

Houston 2,214 49.7%

Wilmington, Del. 182 49.5%

Salt Lake City 383 49.3%

Baltimore 707 48.8%

Atlanta 2,152 48.7%

Denver 1,014 48.1%

Little Rock, Ark. 2,316 47.8%

Pittsburgh 2,420 47.8%

Reno, Nev. 863 47.7%

Boise, Idaho 482 47.5%

New York 1,730 46.7%

Newark, N.J. 1,289 46.7%

Cleveland 2,610 46.7%

Chicago 1,826 46.3%

Los Angeles 2,349 46.3%

Roanoke, Va 1,869 46.1%

New Orleans 2,421 46.1%

St. Petersburg, Fla. 5,762 45.8%

Oakland, Calif. 1,576 45.8%

Nashville, Tenn. 2,715 45.0%

Muskogee, Okla. 1,813 44.2%

Togus, Maine 482 44.2%

Washington, D.C. 666 44.0%

Philadelphia 1,454 43.7%

Winston-Salem, N.C. 2,690 42.5%

Wichita, Kan. 949 42.4%

St. Louis 2,116 42.3%

San Diego 740 42.0%

White River Junction, Vt. 169 42.0%

Jackson, Miss. 1,877 41.9%

Buffalo, N.Y. 1,620 41.9%

Seattle 893 41.8%

Albuquerque, N.M. 801 41.7%

Detroit 2,312 41.7%

Hartford, Conn. 628 41.6%

Honolulu 207 41.1%

Portland, Ore. 1,315 40.4%

Phoenix 1,594 40.3%

Waco, Texas 4,112 40.1%

Manchester, N.H. 260 40.0%

Louisville, Ky. 1,268 39.0%

Providence, R.I. 268 48.8%

Cheyenne, Wyo. 242 38.4%

Indianapolis 1,305 38.2%

Fort Harrison, Mont. 364 37.4%

Des Moines, Iowa 418 37.1%

Milwaukee, Wis. 492 37.0%

Lincoln, Neb. 1,174 36.0%

Anchorage, Alaska 149 32.2%

Fargo, N.D. 226 30.1%

Sioux Falls, S.D. 246 30.1%

St. Paul, Minn. 803 25.0%

TOTALS 87,025 44.3%

SOURCE: Knight Ridder analysis of VA appeals data for combined fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004. ________________________________________________________________

I have no idea what those figures are specifically for 2005 .

Under a search for "Remand" 2006 at the BVA-out of 15,775 cases 12,242 hold the word Remand in them.

Although that does not indicate in each case they were remanded for inadequate work at the RO level- a complete search I am doing of my own POA shows their 2006 remands to be violations of VCAA and other basic considerations of VA case law in the handling of the veteran's claims.

Edited September 22, 2006 by Josephine (see edit history)

[Josephine]

Berta,

I am so happy to see that you are back on the site. Please don't let anyone beat you down! You are a marvelous and most generous person.

I know that it is difficult to listen to some of us whine and I am guilty of this.

I missed seeing your name and was so afraid that you wouldn't be back.

I noticed that my R.O is first on the list good old Huntington, West Virginia

Take Care,

You are much appreciated!!!

Josephine

Edited September 22, 2006 by Josephine (see edit history)

[Berta]

Terry- I am glad you see my point-

38 CFR and M21-1 etc is no different at the VARO level then at the BVA level.

VARO employees get paid big bucks whether they actually handle a claim properly or not-

I personally wish every claim could be filed at the BVA-right from the git go a claimant at the BVA would get someone who could read.

BVA decisions are 1000 times better than the olden days of the BVA.

As I read them ,I certainly agree ,even with their denials-

I only saw a few BVA case decisions over the years that I thought were inaccurate.And the veteran had the right to appeal to the court.

Terry -after all these years without receiving my rights at the VARO level,they have given me ample proof to expose how they perform waste,abuse, and fraud -if you catch my drift-and I am preparing my second complain to the IG on that.

This is the second battle I have had. In 1994-1998 it was awful too- but I succeeded because of two things:

1. I had the Evidence as I do now-a Preponderance of irrefutable medical evidence.

2.and I was unwilling to allow them to ignore my irrefutable evidence.

They did this to Rod too- they took over 6 years for a proper award but made sure they killed him before he saw a penny of it.

Widows seem to have a hard time with their claims-unless they get tough.

One widow was relentless and due to this widow you have the Nehmer decision and every AO vet who gets AO comp should thank not only NVLSP but also Beverly Nehmer-

one of many widows who did not allow the VA to crap on them.

I think my local vet rep gets 50,000 55,000 as annual salary- the VARO employees get $60,000 or more a year-someone posted their actual salaries at hadit in the past.

These are pretty nice paychecks to get when there is no oversight of their errors which are to the detriment of veterans.

I dnt care how long it takes the VARO to do my claims- I just expect them to do it right and not to discriminate against me because I am widow -DUE TO lousy VA health care itself.