Appeals Win

[broncovet]

Cleveland. That explains it. Chris Attig says its the worst RO in all 57 RO's. They do have a new "hot shot" Cleveland RO director there, who has been holding "town" meetings to address Vets concerns. Tony Millions, I think, is his name. However, Tony is met with lots of resistance, a "culture of delay and denial" that has existed since Christine Alford (former director) was promoted to VACO after she got caught shredding evidence in 2008. There are still people bitter that she got caught shredding and promoted, probably because she was good friends with one of the undersecretary's

YOu will need to appeal the effective date, or "settle" for less. Neither guarntees you wont be targeted for a reduction. That is, you could get a reduction if you appeal the eed or if you dont appeal it.

Many VSO's recommend you "settle" for less than you deserve, all while they try to get all the pay they can get. Go figure.

[broncovet]

As far as appealing the effective date, go to your c and p exam. If your doc said you did not get disabled until xx date, then you wont likely be successful in your appeal until/unless you rebut this with an IME/IMO. The effective date is the later of facts found or date you applied, and you wont overcome the date the doc says you got disabled unless you get another more favorable medical opinion.

[lotzaspotz]

Appeal it. Refuse to accept the VA's attempt to hold your effective date hostage to whenever they finally got around to scheduling a C&P exam. That's a common occurrence, unfortunately. Argue that it's been an open claim since 5-28-10, and that should be the effective date. They tried this with my husband, we filed an NOD and the RO changed the effective date back to the original date of claim.

[lotzaspotz]

It would be different if there was a legally defined window within which the VA would be required to perform a C&P exam after a claim is filed. There is not, and there is nothing to prevent them from waiting as long as they wish to finally get around to taking a look at you. That should come at their expense, not yours.

[Computer Tech]

Congratulations on the increase.

Rick

[WVSERVER]

_{congratulations}