Previous Case Comparisons

[Cavman]

I have sent in cases of precedence (cases just like mine that have been won) with my new claims and appeal. I spent many hours locating and reading these. Is that a waste of time with the VA? I know in a civilian court of law they can win a case.

Cavman

[Cavman]

I think that also about both situations. My worry is us PTSD guys might look to well if we can locate cases of precedence, which is very far from the truth.

Cavman

[Objee]

Dear Veteran

When you talk about case studys are you talking about BVA rulings or court rulings?

My lawyer said its bad to use BVBA rulings. The BVA dont even like it when there prior work is brought to them. BVA rulings are not law. You go to the court on the BVA rulings and then the court disagrees with BVA and your stuck. Its best to use court rulings. BVA can and does ignor its prevous ruleings

Terry Higgins

Terrry's right. The BVA is not a court of law. Case law for VBA can only come from the CAVC, the DC for the Federal Circuit or the Supreme Court. CAVC is an Article 1 court with limited powers. The DCFC and SCOTUS are full-powered Article 3 courts that commonly make case law.

Ralph

[Cavman]

Then according to you guys I made mistakes of sending in previous rulings at the BVA. If it is a bad move I would like to know why you constantly see cases noted in their findings.

Cavman

[Objee]

Then according to you guys I made mistakes of sending in previous rulings at the BVA. If it is a bad move I would like to know why you constantly see cases noted in their findings.

Cavman

It's not a mistake or bad move Cavman; the citations the BVA notes are CAVC, DCFC or SCOTUS findings. The 3 senior courts are the ones that write the case law the BVA has to follow. The BVA findings may have influence on the RO, but you might have to go to a court like the CAVC to enforce that. The ROs have a history of ignoring BVA remands. Court orders, they won't ignore under threat of contempt. In short, the BVA can't issue Writs of Mandamus (orders to comply); the courts can and do!

Ralph

[Ricky]

Hey Ralph, do you have or can you direct me to any such writs. Most of the CVA stuff that I have read is either a simple remand with a joint motion for the remand or if they really have to decide something, as I recall, the ruling normally states that it is not binding (or words to that effect). Maybe it is because most of my research is done late at night or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it but I gotta do something during the night while I wait on day light so I can go to work. Anyway, I have read articles on interview with retired judges from the court, if you really call it a court, who provided that neither the BVA or the RO's pay any attention to the court unless they want to. I sure would like to read some of them there grits, I mean writs. Especially if there is any follow-on documentation on how the BVA or RO responded to it. Since it is a court without any power they can write all of the writs they want and word spank both the BVA and RO's but I betcha that when the VA gets such a document they simply say "sure, uh huh" and then continue on with their mission of pissing on another 4-5 thousand vets who have claims pending at the RO. jmho

Ricky

[Berta]

There have been very few successful Mandamus writs at the court- I recently posted a remand that contained what appeared to be a well supported writ of Mandamus-

It is still at the home page at CAVC- I believe-

(having sudden problems with posting hyperlinks here-for some reason)

I have used BVA cases only for certain reasons-in support of claims-

I cited one insupport of the recent remand I got-

But they are not binding on the VA-CAVC decisions might help a claim more if sent-

I sent a CAVC decision on Neal V Derwinski for a CUE I had at the BVA- they denied it anyhow-

years later the Regional Counsel-when I re-opened my claim -called the CUE himself on the VARO- and cited the same CAVC decision! Shows you they didnt even consider the CAVC case.

Office of General Counsel Presedental Opinions are excellent-however- if they support your claim-

You need to make sure that you are using the most recent opinion you can find-

I used a beauty (OGPres op) for my present CUE claim-

This is established VA case law that is difficult for the VA to ignore.

For one of my claims I used 5 hyperlinks to BVA decisions and then copied and pasted a direct quote that reflected all of them and the point I was making.

I use them only in regard to explaining how the VA is supposed to apply VA regs and case law-

not for medical scenarios-

for example to support my remand I gave a hyperlink to a BVA case they recently had decided that

was exactly like the legal point I had made over the VCAA violations.

(funny thing- this was a vet who had the same POA I had and she too had to directly request her remand from the BVA-and I know the POA didn't support her either-

and I found it only took her a few months to get it too) but by the time I found this case and they got this info-the BVA ombudsman had told me my claim had been remanded already-

what I mean is- if a BVA case is similiar to yours medically -still you have to give them the medical evidence specific to your claim.