Docket Number Assigned But NOT Given

[HorizontalMike]

Checking on eBenefits I have found out that my BVA appeal has been assigned a "Docket Number", however that docket number has NOT been given to me.  My lawyer, lately has been of no LUCK to me in answering my emails or phone calls.  Appears too busy to pay attention to these kind of details {sarcasm}.  That said...

QUESTION:  How do I find out what my Docket Number is?

Posted on eBenefits (below):

11/29/2017

Awaiting Place on the Docket

Generally, the Board is required to decide appeals in docket order. Your appeal was assigned a docket number based on the date VA received your VA Form 9 (Substantive Appeal). Your appeal is currently waiting its turn for assignment to a Veterans Law Judge based on your docket number.

11/29/2017

 

[Vync]

The status text does seem to contradict the description.

This might sound crazy, but have you tried calling the VA and asking them directly? I only ask because eBenefits is known to be flaky at times.

https://www.bva.va.gov/CustomerService.asp

Quote

Customer Service

Contact Us

By Phone:        1-800-923-8387 (Monday-Friday between 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Eastern)

 

[HorizontalMike]

Thanks Vync.  Been out all day and just got back online, ready to call above,  but as Lawyer Luck would have it I got an email with docket numbers attached.  This will be important because my FORM 9 indicated NO board meeting required, so I need to gather all currents facts of my appeal and send my last submission directly to the Board.

My lawyer had promised to get me a "forensic IMO" on my sleep apnea to counter the VA's botched VARO decision that was completed be an incompetent PA.  And yes, that decision reads very poorly and inaccurate.

Thanks for the above info.  I hadn't thought about how to contact the Board. until I got the notice that a docket number had/has been assigned.

[broncovet]

I found this lawyer to do as promised, BUT she does not do hand holding and does not evaluate every one of my "proposed Veteran's theories" of compensation.  (I have a lot).  

My suggestion:  You let the attorney handle it.  Dont try to micromange your own claim.  It sounds like you have the docket number now, and can read what is going on.   

When you order a hamburger, you probably dont go into and talk to the fry cook, and ask him how long and how hot he cooks your hamburger for, and when he puts the onions on it, even tho if he does not cook it long enough, you could get some sort of illness from it.  You assume he knows how to cook a hamburger.  Of course, this assumption is "not ALWAYS correct", but its correct enough that you should not worry about it.  

Like the fry cook answering questions about the temperatures of your hamburger, your lawyer does not have time and wont answer every one of your questions.  Just be patient, wait for your hamburger cook and wait for your lawyer to do their job.  

[Buck52]

Broncovet

I respectfully disagree with this.

If I had hired an attorney to help with my claims or my EED  I would expect him/her to answer all my questions  no matter what they maybe and keep me updated.

like if I wanted to know about how my claim is going  I simply ask my attorney  but but my point being with a good attorney they will keep you informed so you don't need to be asking a lot of un necessary questions.

[broncovet]

Its okay if you disagree.  What you may not understand is that attornies who represent Vets are rare.  There are maybe just a few hundred qualifed attornies to represent 25 million Veterans.  Vets law is not that lucrative, so money grabbing attornies go to another area of law.  One reason its not that lucrative is because attorneys dont want to wait 5 years for their money any more than we do.  

[HorizontalMike]

47 minutes ago, broncovet said:

Its okay if you disagree.  What you may not understand is that attornies who represent Vets are rare.  There are maybe just a few hundred qualifed attornies to represent 25 million Veterans.  Vets law is not that lucrative, so money grabbing attornies go to another area of law.  One reason its not that lucrative is because attorneys dont want to wait 5 years for their money any more than we do.  

Plus, since my attorney has already gotten me the TDIU, I strongly suspect that THAT was the easy money for him and he probably is not interested in either my MDD or OSA appeals going forward.  In other words, an easy hit and run...

For me, it is important because of

1. SMC-s (and extra approx $350/month),
2. PLUS it gets me closer to the 100% schedular.  I am concerned about the latter because the R's keep trying to suggest dumping all the TDIU when turning 65, over to SS only.  Yeah, yeah, I know that it has been quickly shot down multiple times when suggested for the budget cuts, BUT why is it continually brought up time after time?

BTW, found this 2017 BVA case decision regarding TBI and depression ratings:

https://www.va.gov/vetapp17/files6/1736081.txt

"...There are no additional neurological symptoms or manifestations, either asserted by the Veteran or reflected in the evidence of record, that would warrant higher or separate ratings under the applicable rating criteria during the period on appeal. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.124a (2008).

Nevertheless, the Board also finds that the separate 50 percent assigned the Veteran's major depressive disorder associated with service-connected traumatic encephalopathy, status post TBI, effective from October 23, 2008, is warranted for the entire prior appellate under review. In this regard, the RO determined that a separate rating for the psychiatric manifestations of the Veteran's service-connected traumatic encephalopathy, status post TBI, was not assignable prior to October 23, 2008, as the pre-2008 version of Diagnostic Code 8045, in effect throughout the relevant appellate period, prohibited the assignment of separate rating for mental disorders associated with traumatic brain injuries. See June 2011 Statement of the Case (determining that "[p]rior to the change in the rating criteria used to evaluate [the Veteran's] service-connected traumatic encephalopathy, manifestations of traumatic brain injuries, to include mental disorders, could not be separately rated"). However, this is simply not the case.

Rather, Diagnostic Code 8045 provides explicit instruction as to rating only "purely neurological disabilities" and "purely subjective complaints" associated with trauma to the brain. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8045 (2008). A diagnosed mental disorder, such as major depressive disorder or anxiety disorder, is neither a neurological disability nor a subjective complaint under the rating schedule; it is a separate disability. In this regard, the Board reiterates that separate ratings for distinct disabilities resulting from the same injury or disease can be assigned so long as the symptomatology for one condition is not "duplicative or overlapping with the symptomatology" of the other condition. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.14 (2016); Esteban, 6 Vet. App. at 261-62..."

 

QUESTION:

Doesn't the medical description, under the Rating Letter "What we decided" LIMIT that rating to exactly what is stated there?  In other words, is the  DVA/BVA now restricted from using the additional/entire laundry list of symptoms listed under 8045 Residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI)  to JUST what is stated under "What we Decided"?

 

 

My Rating Letter states: 

What We Decided

We determined that the following service connected condition has worsened, so we granted
an increase in your assigned percentage:
Old Percent New Percent Effective Date
Assigned AssignedResiduals of traumatic 40% TO 70%   Jul 8, 2015

Medical Description -- brain injury to include mild memory loss, abnormal social behavior, insomina and light sensitivity

Basic eligibility to Dependents' Educational Assistance is established from July 8, 2015.
We assigned a permanent 100% disability evaluation for your service connected disabilities
effective July 8, 2015.

We granted entitlement to the 100% rate effective July 8, 2015, because you are unable to
work due to your service connected disabilities.

No examination will be scheduled in the future for your permanent and total disabilities.

Your overall or combined rating is 70%. We do not add the individual percentages of each
condition to determine your combined rating. We use a combined rating table that considers
the effect from the most serious to the least serious conditions.
THIS IS CONSIDERED A PARTIAL GRANT OF BENEFITS SOUGHT ON APPEAL