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Sucess is Subjective, I think I won, and I am done. Late Entry: this was awarded 2016
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Options Available for a Claimant Receiving a BVA Decision Denying a Claim for Benefits
If the goal of the claimant who is affected by an adverse BVA decision is to retain an attorney to represent him or her, the right to do so becomes an option for the claimant at this time. This option is not available forever. The attorney must be retained by the claimant within one year of the date on the face of the adverse BVA decision.
If the claimant’s goal also is to challenge the adverse BVA decision (with or without an attorney’s assistance), other than to do nothing a claimant has three (3) options to choose from:
Appeal to the Veterans Court
There is a strict deadline for the claimant to submit a Notice of Appeal to the Veterans Court. Once the BVA issues an adverse decision the window of opportunity for the claimant to submit the “Notice of Appeal” is extremely narrow. The claimant only has 120 days from the date stamped on the front of the adverse BVA decision to file the Notice of Appeal. This deadline is not the Veterans Court’s rule, but is a rule imposed on the Veterans Court by the United States Congress. This means that the Veterans Court does not have the power to excuse a claimant from meeting this deadline. Only in very rare circumstances will the 120-day time limit be excused by the Veterans Court.
The importance of the claimant’s option to submit a Notice of Appeal to the Veterans Court cannot be overstated. The only “court” available to a claimant who seeks relief from an adverse BVA decision denying benefits is the Veterans Court. In other words, a claimant cannot go to his or her local U.S. District Court, state superior court, or any other court to challenge a BVA decision that has denied a claim for benefits. Congress created the Veterans Court in 1988 to have “exclusive” jurisdiction over these cases. (Prior to 1988 it was not possible to challenge an adverse BVA decision in any court of law.) Therefore, a claimant denied benefits has only “one shot” to secure “judicial review” of an adverse BVA decision––the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
It is not necessary for a claimant to have an attorney before he or she submits a Notice of Appeal to the Veterans Court. However, the claimant is in a much better position to effectively present his or her case if an attorney is retained to represent the claimant before the Court. The VA is always represented in the Veterans Court by a government attorney.
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Just readin the mail
Excerpt from the 'Declaration of Independence'
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity
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