Ogc And Varo On Foia Requests

[vern2]

I requested a via FOIA letter to St. Petersburg VARO for an updated copy of my c-file- to include information that was omitted in original response and to include all of 2013 documentation that I had submitted. This request was on June 30, 2014. Never got a response so sent a nother letter to VARO and got letter (form type) from a Jennifer Haldor at VARO, telling me that usual backlog, etc. and that they would respond. Never did, so sent a letter to OGC in September 2014 and got letter telling me that they would contact St. Petersburg VARO, again never heard from them. Finally I called the OGC this am and discovered that a Deborah McCallum, that I had been corrosponding with no longer worked with the OGC. the person did tell me that they had sent another letter to VARO today and that this was all they could do. HUH! Does not Federal law require the agency to respond within 20 business days with an answer to the request or reason why they can not or will not comply?

BTW: the phone numbers for OGC are:

1. main number (front desk) 202-273-6660

2. OGC offices 202-461-7684

The only other recourse I have is to hire an attorney and file a writ of mandamus in my local Federal district court. This would be expensive and VA knows this so they continue to DENY, DENY and HOPE I DIE.

Any suggestions

Vern2

[Berta]

You are misinterpreting the FOIA laws.

"Does not Federal law require the agency to respond within 20 business days with an answer to the request or reason why they can not or will not comply?"

The 20 days is only to acknowledge the request in.

Very seldom will a FOIA bring the info requested in a mere 20 days.That did happen to me once. I had foiaed DOL and within days I got stuff they should not have sent to me. Haste makes waste.

They threatened to send a US Marshall to my home to get the files back.

I waited hours for the US Marshall (after I copied what I needed from the files) and I missed a yard sale doing that and so I called the US Marshall's office in Rochester to find out when he was coming, and found out instead that DOL had made all that up.

I had a FOIA that took 3 years to get the info from.

I will again repeat something I have stated here many times.

Your records belong to you...no need for FOIA. A simple request identifying yourself to the VAMC or VARO , (and I always cite requests under the Privacy Act,USC 552,)

FOIAs get different treatment ,that takes a long time usually, then simple Privacy Acts requests for records that belong to you.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Berta

[vern2]

You are misinterpreting the FOIA laws.

"Does not Federal law require the agency to respond within 20 business days with an answer to the request or reason why they can not or will not comply?"

The 20 days is only to acknowledge the request in.

Very seldom will a FOIA bring the info requested in a mere 20 days.That did happen to me once. I had foiaed DOL and within days I got stuff they should not have sent to me. Haste makes waste.

They threatened to send a US Marshall to my home to get the files back.

I waited hours for the US Marshall (after I copied what I needed from the files) and I missed a yard sale doing that and so I called the US Marshall's office in Rochester to find out when he was coming, and found out instead that DOL had made all that up.

I had a FOIA that took 3 years to get the info from.

I will again repeat something I have stated here many times.

Your records belong to you...no need for FOIA. A simple request identifying yourself to the VAMC or VARO , (and I always cite requests under the Privacy Act,USC 552,)

FOIAs get different treatment ,that takes a long time usually, then simple Privacy Acts requests for records that belong to you.

Thanks, Berta. I did the Privacy Act request first and got nothing, so that is why I did the FOIA and still got nothing. Yes, I am aware of the 20 days to acknowledge, but they have not acknowledged my request yet.

A form letter telling me that behind and do not know when will get to my request is not an acknowledgement in my opinion:) I am aware that this may take years to resolve.

[rootbeer22]

Vern2:

In a previous position, I worked FOIAs..you are correct - the agency has 20 business days according to the regulation to provide a response. The "response" is the records that you've requested and not just that the agency confirms receiving it -from you. In a lot cases, FOIA's can and do get answered within 20 business days, but that's based upon their complexities, who has control of the records and if the agency has to go to another offsite -storage area to get the documents/records? Also, the agency does have an obligation to acknowledge that they received your FOIA and that they've starting working on it as well as and expected completion date. The other cavet is that it's first come - first served system so the oldest FOIAs get worked first - just like disability claims, so it may take longer than 20 business days. If you don't get the FOIA in a timely matter, you can appeal that FOIA (not being timely) to a higher authority and the agency is required to let you know whom that is. Recently, I played a "cat and mouse" game with my Regional Office. I made a FOIA request to come in person and view my C-file..then did not hear anything for months besides the "ebennifits" update that said that I had a FOIA but they could not give me any date when it would be completed? So, I then converted it to a regular request for a copy of the entire C-File, later then I got a form letter saying "come on in" during some specific hours and I could view my file..to me it just shows that they are very busy. Frankly, I never wanted to waste anyones time but I need to confirm that everything that I submitted thru the VSO is in the C-file? I was told that the VSO's can pull records out of your file if they think they should not be part of the package? That really concernd me because my VSO has not been engaged at all with my case beyond turning in the files to the RO...to her it was important that she got "credit" for turning it in ( to show she working cases) but I have not seen much benefit from her besides that. Her advice has been way off in some cases from what I've learned from this forum over the last few months..she nice but not very effective..

Edited November 20, 2014 by rootbeer22

[Chuck75]

The problem with the VA has to do with what usually happens - - - in the past the worst case was a slap on the hand by a judge.

If a denial is involved, it might be possible to claim CUE based on a Due Process Failure. All of this is very likely lawyer time!

[vern2]

Thanks Rootbeer22 and chuck 75 as well as Berta! In a previous DoD career, I had to respond to FOIA queries many times and the law does require response in 20 days, not just a form letter saying we are busy. The VA routinely violates this law and nothing is ever done. I have 2 options; wait and hire an attorney. Oh well, wait it is:)

vern2 ( still on the hamster wheel)

[ArNG11]

I got extremely lucky with a FOIA request. It took 7 days from the day I submitted it to the day I found a large parcel with all my records. I was informed that this was crazy fast for a C-file request. Not surprisingly my attorney submitted a request for my records back in August and still has not received anything. Of course they did give him access to VBMS, but they were slow in giving him the passwords to access them. Under full disclosure laws and regulations I can't understand why they are not severely penalized for this. This very action is detrimental to a claimants case if the claimant does not have access to all the records the VA is supposed to be looking at to process their claim. So does anyone want to snipe that hamster yet?