Writ of Mandamus Granted?

[toddt]

If I am reading this correctly, I believe my petition for a writ of mandamus has been granted.  The last two paragraphs of my case at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims:

"Based solely on the petition, the Court can't decide if a writ compelling the RO to decide
the petitioner's claim is warranted. So, it is"

"ORDERED that, within 14 days of this order, the government file a response to the petition
addressing the petitioner's claims."

Now to wait and see what the Regional Office does.  From the time I sent my petition to the Court 9/25/18 until today 10/4/18 that is pretty darn fast.  Thanks to broncovet for the encouragement and to all of Alex's writings on Writs of Mandamus.

[FormerMember]

Erspamer v Derwinski was the first Ex Writ filed at the new Court in 1989. VA fought it tooth and nail and said the Court had no authority to entertain one. That lasted five minutes (they do). The normal progression of a Writ from start to finish is 45 days from filing to completion unless there is some compelling reason to study it. If it is granted, you would know because the first thing the Court does is refer it for a panel or an en banc decision. To date, there has never been a single Judge decision on an EW. There have  been 9 Ex Writs granted in 30 years. Erspamer was not one of them. A friend of mine nicked them on one back in 09 or 10 (Gene Groves). 

The Erspamer court settled on two years being the norm for  "an arbitrary refusal to act" ---i.e. extensive delay. Remember, we attorneys and agents never get paid for a Writ if the VA merely fixes it. In that case, we have not "substantially prevailed". Just because we light a firecracker under their butts is not a win for us. Once VA caves in, they have resolved the dispute so there is no need to grant the Writ and it becomes moot.

I have personally filed five Writs to date and a few for my clients.  I got $70 K out of one and three denied on my greenhouse due to failure to exhaust all my appeals opportunities. Each one is a building block for when VA eventually denies me at the appellate level-presuming they do. As an accredited representative now, I carry more weight. Obviously, I'll take my next one to the Court on appeal- but not as a Writ.

With the new decision on TRAC factors (5), Writs are becoming more in vogue. They are an excellent way to get VA's attention fast when all has come to naught and they won't call you back. I like to file my clients'  Writs pro se and pretend to stay in the background. Self-represented Vets get more sympathy and consideration than represented Vets. 

As I saw above, always send them plenty of paper saying "Whazzup, homie?" if they don't call you. After two years of it, send them one that says "Boy howdy. I've tried to keep this out of the courts and be civil but you won't play ball. Enclosed see copy of Writ filed ---/---/2018. Case # 18-____". I just do that for dramatic effect. The RO director usually gets a scathing call from DC a day after the filing asking WTF is this all about?

VA counsel is the 027 litigation group -Office of General Counsel or OGC. Your argument is not with the Seattle Regional Office's tardy responses. It is with the Secretary (Wilkie) and as such, you complain that the Secretary has not done this or that or the Secretary arbitrarily refuses to act on your claim. Never drag some poor rater or the DRO into it. 

[Berta]

Reason I asked is because the case that seems to be yours (based on the dates and info here) was a denial of the Writ and I saw nothing in the docket that refers to the statement you said was in the decision.

[GeekySquid]

10 minutes ago, asknod said:

first Ex Writ filed at the new Court in 1989.

@asknod

as usual you provide information the rest of us don't know. thank you.

After reading this I was wondering if you would mind providing some clarifications on terms you used so I can learn.

Ex Writ - I don't know what Ex Writ is short for.

decision on an EW. - Same for EW

With the new decision on TRAC factors (5)-i thought TRAC had 6 factors, which one changed if that is what you mean. Or do you mean they only relied on 5 in some new decision?

As I saw above, always send them plenty of paper saying "Whazzup, homie?"-0 this is sort of the biggie conceptually. How do you send them "plenty of paper"? Email, letter, text message? is this some form? where do these go?

 

I appreciate anything you can do to help me learn and not have to ask questions that more experienced people might now think are silly.

 

 

[Berta]

Everything you need to know about filing Writs or Appeals of a BVA decision with the US CAVC is here:

http://www.uscourts.cavc.gov/recent_decisions.php

I filed a Writ so long ago that the CAVC was not even on line.If I wanted a specific case, thst had been mentioned in the VBM by NVLSP- I had to call or email the CAVC , and promise to send them a few bucks, for them to send me a copy of the case.

My Writ Mandamous was denied of course but it brought two great situations to me; I had sent my RO a copy of it.

It seemed to get some thumbs out of butts.

Also I got about 12 letters and calls from lawyers but when they found out it was a Mandamus Writ they said they could not help me. BUT one of those calls was from Ken Carpenter and we spent about an hour talking about VAOLA.

He said if I ever needed help to contact him .

This is one of the Best CUE awards at CAVC I have ever seen. Us widows are relentless , as well-

Ken represented her- it is a beauty:

 

[FormerMember]

EW= EX Writ = Extraordinary Writ of Mandamus. Sorry I mistyped. There are still 6 TRAC factors (Martin v O'Rourke). Since you can never see a EW filing in the first instance on the ECF, I'll share one with you to give you a feel for how you start. See attached.

Best of luck, sir.

2017 CAVC Greenhouse filing in pdf .pdf

[GeekySquid]

46 minutes ago, asknod said:

I'll share one with you

@asknod

Thank you for the explanation and sharing the document. It makes informative reading.

not trying to be pushy but I still cannot understand the method of communicating with them you described as "Whazzup, homie?" type paper.

I am certainly not at a level of 'I need this' but I am trying to wrap my head around the different processes and how to execute them properly.

on a slightly different note, since I have begun this latest push to deal with the VA it has become plain to me that I don't know enough to know what I need to learn.

With that in mind it occurred to me that you are a "veterans rep" and carry some type of certification to be one. Certification typically means first getting training and then some type of "proof" of competency such as a test.

Would you share the starting point and possible providers of training towards that certification?

One of my skills that is prodded on by my method of controlling my issues involves keeping my mind busy with new and challenging learning or gathering/researching information. It seems that the training and gaining certification in this are will provide multiple benefits to me and I might be able to help other veterans along the way so I would view it as a win-win-win situation.

Thanks again for the already supplied information.