SOC never received

[Navy4life]

When I filed my NOD in 2014, I specifically asked for a DRO review hearing on the NOD VA21-0958 form.  I never received anything in the mail.  After searching this site in January and the internet I found the following:

"After the VA receives a NOD from a veteran, it will prepare the Statement of the Case (SOC) for all issues that were not granted service connection or the maximum rating. The SOC is an explanation of the decision, including a cover letter that gives instructions about the appeal process. Also included in the SOC is a list of the issues being decided in the claim, a summary of evidence, the pertinent laws and VA regulations that relate to the claim, and the decision and reasoning behind each issue. The SOC may include helpful information in order for the veteran to prepare his or her appeal, but the most important thing to remember about the SOC is that the veteran has 60 days from the date of the SOC cover letter to send in VA Form 9, which is the substantive appeal. Failure to respond to the SOC within 60 days by filing VA Form 9 may result in the appeal being closed and the decision becoming final."

Fast forward to January 2016 when I inquired about my NOD, I found out that it sat "dormant" and that it "missed a step" in the processing of the NOD.  I wound up having my DRO review hearing in February.

My questions are:

1. Wasn't I supposed to receive the SOC?

2. Will I receive an SOC regardless of the outcome of my DRO hearing?

3. When I filed out the VA21-0958 one of the questions specifically asks the Veteran to list the service connection and % the Veteran feels warrants the service connection. Obvisously this is what I feel I deserve but is this actually something the DRO reviews and considers?

4.  Since I never received the SOC is that any violation of my rights?

Thank you

[Drillserg63]

You filed your Nod in November 2014. It been about 17 months. I doubt the dro has even gotten to your appeal with the backlog. Mine took about 3 years. Some are taking 4 years. What varo is processing your appeal. I think that is what is going on here. Try to be patient. Dro reviews take a while. Hope this helps

[Navy4life]

7 minutes ago, Drillserg63 said:

You filed your Nod in November 2014. It been about 17 months. I doubt the dro has even gotten to your appeal with the backlog. Mine took about 3 years. Some are taking 4 years. What varo is processing your appeal. I think that is what is going on here. Try to be patient. Dro reviews take a while. Hope this helps

Did you read my post?  DRO has already had my hearing. This has nothing to do with being patient. I am just wondering why I didn't get an SOC when I filed my NOD back in 2014. My hearing has taken place so I'm waiting patiently. I'm just concerned I never received the SOC. MY NOD was originally at the ROANOKE RO but I had my hearing in Waco since I moved. 

Edited April 18, 2016 by Navy4life

[Buck52]

Navy4life  this is

in M21-MR,PORT I CHAPTER 5  Section D

You may want to look these up!

Good Information on SOC about two different Jurisdictions on Issues of SOC & SSOC

  Statement of the Case (SOC) and Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC)

 

 

[Navy4life]

Thanks Buck!

[Buck52]

 Here is what a DRO Wrote.

Once the appeal issues are ready for decision (RFD), ideally, NODs should be worked from the oldest pending to the newest received, with the exception of priorities, which include Homeless Veterans, Seriously Injured/Wounded Veterans, Congressional Inquiries, and Financial Hardship cases, etc.  Priorities are worked before all other pending claims.

This also means that a Veteran who has filed multiple NODs over time, may only receive a decision concerning his oldest pending NOD, while the issues contained in his other “younger” NODs remain pending.

The file is reviewed and decisions are rendered.  If all of the issues within an NOD can be granted in full, a rating is prepared to grant the issues.  Otherwise, we must issue a Statement of the Case (SOC) to the Veteran, which provides the applicable VA regulations and explains the reasons for the decision(s).

Once an SOC is issued, the DRO process is complete.  If the appeal continues, it is now under the Traditional appeals process.  DRO authority does not extend beyond the issuance of the SOC.

In order for a Veteran to continue the appeal, the VA must receive a Substantive (Formal) appeal, which is a VA Form 9, Appeal to Board of Veterans’ Appeals, or an equivalent statement of intent to continue the appeal.  There is no legal requirement that a specific VA Form must be received in order to continue an appeal, but VA must receive some form of communication in writing from the Veteran or his Representative indicating an intent to continue the appeal.

A Veteran has EITHER the remainder of one year from the initial decision notification letter, OR 60 days from the date the SOC was mailed, to file his Substantive appeal.  Otherwise, his appeal rights for those issues expire, and the NOD is closed.

If the Veteran has filed a timely Substantive appeal, the next step in the appeals process is to certify the appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), which is to transfer jurisdiction of the appeal to BVA.

However, the Regional Office cannot physically send the claims file to BVA until all pending NODs and all pending claims have been decided.  There can be no appeal issues pending before the Regional Office at the time the claims file is sent to BVA; otherwise, BVA will issue a Remand instructing the Regional Office to issue an SOC on any pending appeals.

Additionally, if the veteran has requested a BVA travel board hearing or BVA Video conference hearing, the claims file remains physically at the Regional Office until the BVA hearing can be scheduled.

In the past, if any additional evidence was submitted which related to the issues under appeal, then the Regional Office had to review the additional evidence, and if the appeal continued, it had to issue a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) explaining why the additional evidence did not change the prior decision and give the Veteran 30 days to reply.  If yet more evidence was received, another SSOC was issued with another 30 day reply period.  There was no limit to the number of SSOCs which could be issued.  The appeal could not be certified to BVA until all of evidence in the claims file had been considered at the Regional Office level.

If an appeal was certified to BVA and additional evidence was subsequently received, the Regional Office had to either obtain a waiver of jurisdiction from

[RUREADY]

sound like this claim isn't done yet. You get a SOC

when the Dro decide claim or finish it.