Veteran Attorney for St. Louis, MO

[WomanMarine]

C&P showed disability, but VA said not service connected, when DoD states connected.

Now it is time for an attorney to NOD.

Any suggestions?

 

[Gastone]

It really depends on your abilities and the EOR "Evidence of Record." If you could post redacted copies of the C & P DBQ's, the DOD Record and the Denial Letter to include Evidence Reviewed, we might be able to offer better-informed opinions.

From the attorney's point of view, what's the current and future Retro $$ amount? You're not SD'd presently, so a 100% Rating would get you about $35K a yr X 4+ yrs for a BVA Appeal at 20% would give the VA Attorney about a $28K payday. If that's the case, you won't have a problem finding a legal Eagle, just be sure he/she is an Eagle; not a Duck.    

Semper Fi

[WomanMarine]

Thanks Gastone for the response.

I have not received the denial letter yet, as I just found out. It was mailed out the 11th I am told.

What has happened is that the V.A. has lost my records from when I was first discharged. Or at least that is what they are claiming. I was discharged with a DoD rating of 10% for a sublexing patellar. They state that it is service connected and may or may not be a permeate disability. I got a job right away out of the Corps with the railroad. My knee went out on me at work, causing my leg to be unstable. I went to the V.A. and they put me in a cast for 6 months. The V.A. can find no record of this! This is unbelievable ... 6 months of physical therapy! I applied for my disability then and they stated that I did not have enough time in service ... this is because of an error on my DD214, which I had to have corrected. When the DD215 showed the correct amount of time I went back to the V.A. and was told that I could only get DoD disability pay, which I did. V.A. rated me then @ 0% and issued me a service-connected card. V.A. claims they have no record of this.

In 1980 I had to go to the V.A. because my knee went out and tore some tendons. At that time I tried to get an increase in my disability as I needed the cash as I was homeless. V.A. finally comes back and takes my 'service-connected' card from me and states that I was never 'service-connected'.  :o

AND now they are saying all they have on file is the 1980 decision ... Which is insane, as they state that the 'injury is a part of its natural progression' ... I am in there with torn ligaments! If anything it proves that it is not, as I have injury.

My major concern is the missing 6 months of physical therapy ... how could something like that go missing? As well I have the DD2515 correction so I can date a 'disability severance paycheck' and that will date when the V.A. gave me 0%

I was 19 and should have paid more attention to keeping my records ... shame on me. But the V.A. not having 6 months of physical therapy records, to prove that the disability persisted outside of the Marines, is shameful.

As well, the fact that I did admit that I had an issue with my knee prior to service, it gave way on my once and never did it tear my ligaments nor meniscus, like it did after my service injury.

I am thinking how rotten this is for me and I was just a lowly motor T 0151. I think about our guys that really need this service and how rotten it is ... It makes me ashamed.

Semper Fi.

[WomanMarine]

I don't know if one can make these out ... I found them in my SRB that I received last year. It is the first I have seen of them. The DoD clearly rated my 10%

How can the V.A. say I am not service connected when DoD does?"