To Cue Or Nod

[Shawnny]

Good Morning fellow vets...i have a question..i'll give u a brief history(lol).had a lot of issues while i was in the military, so i got out thinking i was ok,,,after 10 years of attempting to get a job...job failures...working 2hrs,,,2 weeks...ect. My friend told me that i needed to go see someone at the va med.center....i did...VA awarded me nsc pension..for major depressive disorder in 2001july...im thinking this isnt right..so i appealed it...the case went to bva and was remanded back to regional office in cleveland which awarded me 50%sc for mdd jan2005..im thinking this is not right VA deemed me unemployable..thats why they awarded me nsc pension?? So i appealed that...was sent a notice stating they receive my nod for my 50%june2005 so i checked that i wanted a dro officer to review it and sent it in....in the meantime..had mental breakdown and totally forgot about my nod for my 50%...I filed for iu and after sometime they granted it this dec2006...but the effevtive date was off...i called va and inquired about my nod for my 50%...they said it was closed..because i didnt send in a form 9 that was sent with statement of the case..i was like..i never received it..they stated it was sent july 2005,,so i hang up and start searching for this soc..nothing!...I called my vso who hasnt helped me in any way shape or form..if he received it...he was like yeah...i told him i didnt get one..i then asked him what address did they send it to..My OLD address after they had just sent me notification that they receive my nod!! Fellow vets can i CUE them on this for my effective date since they purposely sent this to my old address and i wasnt able to respond..or should i just send in a nod for my iu effective date and send in the necessary paperwork?? Sorry for the long drawn out story...i was always hearing about va doing little things ,,but i never believed until it happened to me... B)

[Shawnny]

If you filed for IU in April, 2005, becuase of your MDD and your SOC was issued sometime in the summer of 2005 (you said the VA acknowledged your NOD in June 2005) furthing denying an increase for your Major Depressive Disaorder above the granted 50% evaluation, and then VA granted IU in December 2006, then, as I said before, there is more to this than what is been posted.

The only thing that would fit this would be if the VA granted an increase for your depression to 70%, but still had to issue a SOC because they were unable to grant the highest possible award allowed according to the rating schedule. If this happened, you would have still received a rating decision of the increase from 50% to 70%.

The VA would not grant IU soley for Major Depression being only rated at 50%. First, the Director of Compensation would proably deny it because if IU would be warrented, then, like I said before, the RVSR should have assigned a 70% or 100% rating. Secondly, even the dumbest RVSR probably wouldn't have missed this one!

In order for us to help you here on Hadit, you need to provide more information.

Vike 17

I dont know what else to say vike17...how about a timeline???

2001 july granted nsc pension for mdd/70% and also was awarded ssdi... sent in nod, claim was sent to bva and remanded to ro in ohio

2005jan granted 50% service connected for mdd....appealled it (at least i thought i did)

2005april went in hospital for awhile...got out and filed for iu

2005 june was sent notification that va received my nod...i sent that back in stating i wanted a dro to review it...(never heard anything about a soc until later last year when my case had already been closed)

2005 nod for 50%was closed (remember i never knew that it was closed only found out thru vso what date and address was on it...he sent me a copy of it...was sent to old address in july 2005

2006 november had c&p exam

2006 dec was granted iu from apr 2005 ...thats all vike17..nothing else B)

[john999]

Shawn

I think the VA is using the date of your hopital stay as the beginning of your IU. If I was within the time limits I would NOD the effective date. The thing I see is you were granted SC for a condition that was previously granted as being NSC but totally disabling. Somewhere when the VA decided the condition was SC instead of NSC you should have gotten the effective date for the original determination that you were totally disabled. I don't know if that raises to the level of CUE or not. It seems to be common sense and justifiable that the date of your SC IU should be the date they gave you the NSC pension. Did you appeal the effective date of your IU back to 2001? It seems the appeal that changed the NSC depression to SC depression was not logical since you should have gotten SC/IU since you were getting the NSC pension. Why only 50% SC and not 100% SC going back to the date you were awarded the NSC pension? I am talking logic here and not quoting VA law. The two are often different but it is something to think about. Is depression the only disability you have?

[Shawnny]

Shawn

I think the VA is using the date of your hopital stay as the beginning of your IU. If I was within the time limits I would NOD the effective date. The thing I see is you were granted SC for a condition that was previously granted as being NSC but totally disabling. Somewhere when the VA decided the condition was SC instead of NSC you should have gotten the effective date for the original determination that you were totally disabled. I don't know if that raises to the level of CUE or not. It seems to be common sense and justifiable that the date of your SC IU should be the date they gave you the NSC pension. Did you appeal the effective date of your IU back to 2001? It seems the appeal that changed the NSC depression to SC depression was not logical since you should have gotten SC/IU since you were getting the NSC pension. Why only 50% SC and not 100% SC going back to the date you were awarded the NSC pension? I am talking logic here and not quoting VA law. The two are often different but it is something to think about. Is depression the only disability you have?

Hello John...yes that is my only sc disability...when they awarded me 50%sc..they went back to my original claim 2001...your asking the same questions that im asking..i have already sent in a nod for my iu effective date...my whole case is a mystery..when they gave me nsc pension..they rated me at 70%p&t ...but sc 50%... B)

[john999]

Shawnny

I think you should have gotten 70% service connected IU from 2001. It makes sense. To give you 50% SC does not make sense unless they are saying you got better. These VA types are slimy and slippery.

[Ricky]

Shawnny -

Looks like the date is correct. You did not file for IU untile Apr 2005. Looks like they denied your NOD for a higher rating on your claim in July 05. However, they still were processing your IU claim and awarded you 70 percent with 100 perent IU effective of Apr 2005. The 70 percent with IU looks correct ( Apr 2005). Looks like your only beef is the non-notification of the denial of your claim for and increased rating with an effective date of 2001. This may be a lost cause because they did issue a SOC on it. I understand you complaint that it went to the wrong address. However, the VA did issue it as evidenced by your SO providing you a copy of it. When did you move? Looks like from all of your posts the VA acted correctly. My opinion is that the only complaint that you have at this point is one with the SO. He is the one that did not act correctly by not notifying you of the denial of your original claim. If you had responded to the SOC with a VA9 and requested a higher rating and IU ON IT - then the BVA may have approved it with and effective date of 2001. However, since no VA 9 was submitted then they VA simply closed it and when you submitted your IU claim they accepted it as a New claim. GO AFTER YOUR SO HE IS THE ONE THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM BY NOT NOTIFYING YOU OF THE SOC. Did he have the correct contact information for you when the SOC was issued? If not then you may not even have a complaint with him either. Remember in order to claim that the VA had your correct address takes a piece of paper telling them that you have moved and your new address is XXXXXXXXXXXX or a phone call providing the same info. Once this is done you MUST verify that they have the correct info by telephoning them and asking what contact info they have for you. Sorry but this may be a lost cause unless you can come up with some type of evidence (not the fact they sent it to the wrong address) and reopen the claim. I understand the mental anguish you are going through with this issue but this is one time I must say the VA is in the right. Sorry my brother. By the way did you get your back pay to Apr 2005?

[Shawnny]

Shawnny -

Looks like the date is correct. You did not file for IU untile Apr 2005. Looks like they denied your NOD for a higher rating on your claim in July 05. However, they still were processing your IU claim and awarded you 70 percent with 100 perent IU effective of Apr 2005. The 70 percent with IU looks correct ( Apr 2005). Looks like your only beef is the non-notification of the denial of your claim for and increased rating with an effective date of 2001. This may be a lost cause because they did issue a SOC on it. I understand you complaint that it went to the wrong address. However, the VA did issue it as evidenced by your SO providing you a copy of it. When did you move? Looks like from all of your posts the VA acted correctly. My opinion is that the only complaint that you have at this point is one with the SO. He is the one that did not act correctly by not notifying you of the denial of your original claim. If you had responded to the SOC with a VA9 and requested a higher rating and IU ON IT - then the BVA may have approved it with and effective date of 2001. However, since no VA 9 was submitted then they VA simply closed it and when you submitted your IU claim they accepted it as a New claim. GO AFTER YOUR SO HE IS THE ONE THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM BY NOT NOTIFYING YOU OF THE SOC. Did he have the correct contact information for you when the SOC was issued? If not then you may not even have a complaint with him either. Remember in order to claim that the VA had your correct address takes a piece of paper telling them that you have moved and your new address is XXXXXXXXXXXX or a phone call providing the same info. Once this is done you MUST verify that they have the correct info by telephoning them and asking what contact info they have for you. Sorry but this may be a lost cause unless you can come up with some type of evidence (not the fact they sent it to the wrong address) and reopen the claim. I understand the mental anguish you are going through with this issue but this is one time I must say the VA is in the right. Sorry my brother. By the way did you get your back pay to Apr 2005?

Chief,,,,i had been living in the same place for 4years now,,,i always let va know my whereabouts...its just funny how they sent me notification that thay received my nod for my 50%june 2005...and then send my soc to my old address july2005??? We will see what happens about my eed...i always follow my gut..if i would have listened to people telling me i didnt have a case...i wouldnt be getting iu...i went from nsc pension..to iu....