Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts | Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users
- 0
Adding Case Law to Statement in Support of Claim
Rate this question
Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts | Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users
Rate this question
Question
JKWilliamsSr
My question is this. Is it a good idea to list case law in your statements in support of claim? Or even adding separate statement that lists all the case laws that support a claim?
I personally think it would be a good idea to do so even at the risk of upsetting rater. I personally do not have confidence of any rater properly deciding my claim or anyone else's for that matter. I am not saying that all raters are bad but there is a large number of bad decisions and we as veterans are probably just as likely to receive a bad decision as often as we receive a good decision. I base this from what I have read here as well as on a couple facebook pages. Two immediately come to mind.
1. Someone posted an excerpt from a BVA decision overturning his denial where the decision stated (I am paraphrasing) - A veteran was denied service connection for diabetic neuropathy and rater stated they could not find a connection for the current claim of diabetic neuropathy and their SERVICE CONNECTED Diabetes.
2. A veteran was denied service connection for a disability because they could not find any mention in their SMR. This was discussed in a facebook forum. The veteran stated that the disability was secondary to a current service connected disability. His assumption was that the VA would connect the dots for him. This led to a long debate about this because there were some that said the VA does not do that and others stated that the VA is required to connect the dots. I was on the side where the VA was required to connect the dots because of their duty to assist. While I disagreed with the side that said the VA is not required to do this I did see the logic where they were saying you have to connect the dots for them yourself. Don't assume they will make for you. I do recall in the past (IIRC) the form did not give you the option to file a claim secondary to something. I do know you can do that now on ebenefits but I don't remember getting that option when I last filed in 2009
But I digress.
The main reason I make the request is because I see a lot of claims denied because raters are completely ignoring Buddy/Spouse/Lay statements and I feel if you have the law sitting there right in front of them it may not be so easy for them to just deny the claim.
Edited by JKWilliamsSrLink to comment
Share on other sites
Top Posters For This Question
1
1
1
1
Popular Days
May 13
2
May 14
2
Top Posters For This Question
Berta 1 post
vetquest 1 post
Richard1954 1 post
JKWilliamsSr 1 post
Popular Days
May 13 2019
2 posts
May 14 2019
2 posts
3 answers to this question
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now