Attorney Fees

[uniccco]

I see a claim for attorney fees in ebenefits I hired one in January of 2020 I had a already pending NOD that I started in February of 2019 got notification of partial grant on April 8 2020 attorney fee claim posted April 10 can they  seek fees on NOD that I started before I hired them

[broncovet]

What does your fee agreement say?  Does it limit representation to a particular issue or appeal level? (such as CAVC, BVA, etc).  

The first thing you need to do is call the attorney and discuss it with him, especially since you dont know what it is. (ebenefits is unrelaible).  

We can not answer this until/unless we know what your agreement with the attorney was.  

If you gave him POA over "everything", then maybe fees are still due.  Remember "filing a NOD" is not everything.  We dont know what other work your attorney accomplished, if any.   You, also, may not have known what he did.  Most of the time, they dont send you a notice with every piece of paper they file in your behalf.  He could have written a brief for you, submitted additional key evidence etc., and you may never have known that.  

You could have filed a NOD, for example, and then an attorney could have shown up at a hearing and represented you.  In that case you would probably need to compensate him for his time.  

Edited April 12, 2020 by broncovet