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Viewing Specific Evidence Listed In Statement Of The Case (Soc)

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Notorious Kelly

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Hi,

It's tough deciding whether to file Form 9 to appeal when I am not sure exactly what evidence was cited and conclusions made about that evidence.

The SOC has a laundry list of material but no specific citations, just general statements.

How can I file a Form 9 stating why I am appealing when I don't know what the case is? Is there a way to view other peperwork used by the VA for my case?

Thanks!

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I think many here gave good advise and I might be repeating some of it...


They certainly should have enclosed an Evidence list.

And if probative evidence was Not listed or considered than that is a good argument for the appeal.

It is best to tell them exactly why you believe they are wrong.

For example, if it is regarding a rating that you think should be higher, tell them how your evidence (refer to specifics in the med recs that they might have had but overlooked) and then cite the proper rating ,based on your medical evidence, per the VA SRD.

If the NOD was filed on a denial due to " SMRs were silent' ...a vet needs to see their own SMRs because sometimes that is plain old BS.
On the other hand older hand written SMRs can be difficult to read and contain acronyms and they should be interpreted by the vet on appeal on the I-9 if possible with one of the many medical acronym sites because VA probably skims over a lot of med acronyms.

Vets can also offer good medical treatises to support their contentions but usually VA overlooks that too and yet ,if a real doctor uses the same type of treatise in a strong IMO , then it would have merit for VA, if they give a strong medical rationale as well.

VA is googling these days to do C & P exams, picking out probably the worse treatise or study they can find,to go against some claims, when many other treatises and studies on the net might well support the claim..

NVLSP advises adding this to the I-9:.

"I take exception to and preserve for appeal ALL errors the VARO may have made or the Board hereafter might could make in deciding this appeal. This includes all legal errors, all factual errors, failure to follow M21-1,all due process errors and any failures to discharge the duty to assist as violation of basic VA laws and regulations within 38 USCS and 38 CFR."

And it pays to read, re read and then read a few times more Everything the VA says.

And get a copy of the C & P exam because they know how to manipulate those results sometimes, to our detriment.

Point out any errors they made in the C & P exam and if you believe the results were too speculative, tell them why,.


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Thanks Gastone & Berta!

The evidence list is so broad and the statements in case so general as to not carry weight as a legal case in any court I could imagine. The VA only gets away with this because they believe they hold all the cards.

The C&P examiner mentioned a summary in the C-file (which appeared to be a stack of blue papers). Can I get a copy of that? Is there a name for it?

This process is a travesty and must be changed.

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I'm no lawyer, but this all sounds like it might violate the 5th or 14th amendments by violating our rights to due process. It also sounds like a conspiracy. The VA is deliberately concealing information that could be beneficial to our legal claims. I wonder if this could be a good basis for a class action lawsuit.

There is an old saying in the financial realm, "If you do not disclose, you cannot impose."

What I learned in this topic explains so much. This makes me want to request a copy of all RBA information just to see how much and how often they screwed me over. Although I requested my C-file some time ago, I don't recall ever seeing anything about an RBA.

On the other hand, I do realize why the VA might have implemented a policy like this. After watching the movie Article 99 and seeing the increase in security at some VA facilities, they probably justify it by saying they are concerned about people going ballistic. But to even have a policy that excludes VSO's, wow... :blink:

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My attorney sent me a CD, which included the RBA. I spent some time reading it and was shocked...both by what was IN the RBA and what was NOT in the RBA.

There was much, much less medical information than what I thought in the RBA. I was also suprised NOT to see old VARO decisions in the RBA..I assumed they had the old decisions...but that appears to not be the case.

I believe my RBA had about 30% of my evidence. That is, my files have about 3 times as much evidence. One critical document that was "missing" in the RBA...my 2008 "request for special handling" (due to shreded evidence). They shredded my special handling request because they shredded earlier documents!!!! Unbeleivable.

The RBA did have some stuff I did not have, but most of that was irrelevant. I was just amazed at how incomplete and disorganized the RBA was.

Frankly if I was the judge I could not make heads or tails of it either, at least not based on the RBA. And, thats what its based on.

Berta, as usual, contributed good advice.

Perhaps she could shed light on how a pro se Vet can get the RBA...other than at a BVA hearing, and you can just look at it. Its no wonder VA decisions are so bad, in light of the simply chaotic condition of the RBA.

I think the RBA is so critical, it may be worth a trip to DC(to BVA) to look at it, and provide copies of missing evidence. If you have been over your case like I have, then you can quickly look at the file and tell its missing stuff.

It seems like the RBA is one of those "gotcha's" where the VA can predetermine a denial. Its easy. Just "leave out" a favorable c and p exam, and the VA will deny based on the nexus being absent. Then its 4 more years for you to get back to the BVA again.

I do think what we thought was the VA being unable to read, is probably just a manipulation of the RBA.

The fact that the VA controls the RBA is telling.

If you had a border dispute with your neighbor, would you hand him your evidence and ask him to make sure the court had a copy? Hardly..he is your adversary, and would not be at all interested in making sure the court got all your evidence.

In a similar way, we are supposed to trust the VA, that they are non adversarial, and they will keep our RBA complete and organized...its no wonder there are soo many erroneous denials. Those denials really happened before the case was even sent to the Board...all the VA needs to do is just fail to include your favorable evidence..and poof..you are denied again.

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Well, one way to tear down the wizard of VA secrecy, is to request a hearing..where the RBA will be in front of you.

Another way is to submit your evidence (appeal) direct to the board...and bypass the RO gatekeepers who will likely throw away a good percent of your evidence when submitting this to BVA to keep their denial rate high, that is, to defeat all the dog gone appeals which reverse their denials.

I think they have a name for all this:

"Dirty Dancing".

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