Filing a new claim before remand is settled...

[Kelly Severance]

It's been a little over 2 years since the judge remanded my husband's claim for IU.  In the meantime, he continues to decline.  He is a gulf war veteran and has many of the presumptives.  He filed for these a few years back and was denied.  If we file again, will this hold up the remand further?

[GBArmy]

Hi Kelly. I'm not sure; it is the VA you're dealing with. It could depend upon what his claimed disabilities are, what the remands entails (like additional C&P's for further development), and what the new claims are for. It is possible that the remands will result in adding new disabilities as secondaries to the original claim. I think we would have to know what the original claims were, what the remands require, and what new ones he is considering. 

[ShrekTheTank]

Ok so a few questions here before I can give some help.

Were the denied conditions apart of the same claim for UI?

Next is service connected for his conditions?  If the conditions are not apart of the current claim then for sure claim these conditions ASAP!

Can you please post the remand minus any personal information?

Reason being there should be no reason you are waiting two year for a remand to be taken care of!  If this is the case then someone has seriously dropped the ball!  If so they have basically forgotten about you and I personally would start shaking down some trees.

My remand took 6 months before the RO even looked at it which from what I could find out is about right.  It then took almost a year to implement the changes for the granted part of my claim.  

I have all of the presumptives from the gulf war and I know how bad it sucks to wake up every day.  It is defiantly a challenge to keep fighting the VA.  

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Kelly Severance said:

It's been a little over 2 years since the judge remanded my husband's claim for IU.  In the meantime, he continues to decline.  He is a gulf war veteran and has many of the presumptives.  He filed for these a few years back and was denied.  If we file again, will this hold up the remand further?

If your husband is seriously ill, you can file for an advancement on the docket to get a faster decision.  Be forewarned that an advancement does not in anyway means a positive outcome. I have seen an advancement come back as a denial and the veteran had to appeal.  

The Board is required by law to review appeals in docket order unless unusual hardship or “other sufficient cause” has been shown to advance a case on the docket. 38 U.S.C. § 7107(a) and 38 C.F.R. § 20.900(c). If applicable, you may submit brief, but complete, reasons to the Board for advancing your case on the docket, which must include supporting documentation to factually demonstrate reasons for advancement. The following are some examples of unusual hardship or other sufficient causes, along with recommended supporting documentation:

• Severe financial hardship (bankruptcy petition, home foreclosure notice, homelessness);
• Serious illness (physician’s statement documenting terminal or grave illness, preferably with clinical findings);
• Advanced age (defined as 75 years or more);
• Administrative error (resulting in a significant delay in docketing your appeal)
• Affected by a natural disaster such as a hurricane, earthquake, or flood (you may submit evidence such as newspaper clippings, pictures, FEMA declarations, etc)

Motions for advancement on the docket, along with supporting documentation, should be submitted to the Board in writing at the address or fax number listed below. Please remember to include your name, the Veteran’s name (if different), Legal Representative (if applicable) and your claim number.

By Mail:Board of Veterans’ Appeals

P.O. Box 27063

Washington, DC 20038

By Fax:844-678-8979 (Toll Free)

 

 

P.S. 2 years waiting on a Remand, I would be calling someone and asking what the heck is going on with my remand.

Edited March 12, 2020 by pete992

[broncovet]

I agree with Pete, 2 years is too long for a remand.  Get on the phone and start calling.  Start with your VSO or attorney.  Then go to "peggy".  Send an IRIS inquiry (email).  

Docuement all those.  

Call the white house hotline.  

Lastly, if all those are documented and you give them time to answer and VA still does not respond, consider a Writ of Mandamus to compel VA to compliance with the Remand.  

I suggest you file for new issues sooner rather than later.  That is, unless you have too much money and dont need more retro.  Filing later, means you will get benfits later.  For example, if you were awarded 100 percent, then each month you delayed filing will cost you about 3000 dollars depending upon your number of dependents.  How many 3000 dollars can you afford to lose by delaying filing?  For me, the answer is zero.  I would file and make sure it arrived before the end of this month.  (You wont get paid for March, but your benefits could start in April if you file in march.  YOur benefits begin the first day of the month FOLLOWING your effective date.  

[Kelly Severance]

Thanks everyone for responding!  I'll try to answer all questions here.  The remand was part of a partial grant on March 7, 2018.  In this order, the judge granted his (my husbands) request for migraine increase to the maximum (50%).  He remanded his claim for IU.  The remand orders were for the Regional office to obtain medical records for 2 private doctors, readjudicate, and if the result was unfavorable, return to the board.

In April, 2019, the granted portion was settled and we received our first correspondence that the VA was working on the remand.  We sent in all requested documents.  Around October, we began doing inquiries through IRIS, BVA, and white. house hotline to get updates.  Also in October, we received more correspondence requesting another form 21-8940.  Thought that was strange, but we complied.  As it turns out, that letter was apparently just an automatic letter from VA once it realized that criteria for IU had been met and they were doing their "duty to assist" thing.  When we did that, a claim opened in va.gov and ebenefits for increase in all his SC disabilities and IU.  He was sent to 3 C & P's in december.  All favorable.  After 4 weeks, that claim closed.  Weird.  WE called IRIS to find out why,  and they stated that when they realized IU was already on remand, they closed the claim so that adjudication of the remand could continue.  In february 2020, we did another BVA inquiry.  Their response indicated that our remand was pending 730 days and they were forwarding to the atlanta RO for immediate attention.  Atlanta RO responded with some BS about our options for AMA (direct,  higher level review, etc). STUPID!  This is a remand on a legacy appeal!  Our last inquiry was another IRIS phone call.  they stated that it had been sent back to BVA.  

In ebenefits and VA.gov, it still states that it was last updated on march 7, 2018.

So we have been trying to find out what is going on, but have had no luck!

[ShrekTheTank]

Like I said before it sounds like you need to get someone else involved. My congressman really helped me!  Try reaching out to anyone you can think of!