Author: seth-old

On December 19, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion, Butler v. United States, No. 11-2408, distinguishing the evidence neccessary to establish a dependency and indemnity (DIC) claim before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 1151, versus a wrongful death and loss of consortium claim under the Federal Tort Claims...

The linked National Journal article, regarding the diminishing number of veterans in Congress, comes in the wake of Senator Daniel Inouye’s death.  Senator Inouye had a remarkable career in both the House of Representatives and Senate.  He was a member of Congress since Hawaii achieved its statehood in 1959.  Prior to his career in politics, Senator Inouye served in WWII in a regiment of...

As the below articles document, women veterans is one of fastest growing segments of the veteran population.  It is estimated that women veterans will comprise ten percent of the total veteran population by 2020.  One of the partners at Fink Rosner Ershow-Levenberg previously addressed one of the issues that some female veterans have encountered, sexual trauma while in the military, in a May...

On Dec 12, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee held confirmation hearings for William S. Greenberg’s nomination for judgeship to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC).  The confirmation hearings can be accessed at Confirmation Hearings for William S. Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg received his juris doctorate from Rutgers School of Law – Newark in 1967 and was a...

Many veterans are unaware that numerous states provided property tax exemptions for 100% disabled veterans.  However, each state has its own rules governing who is qualified for this exemption.  The linked Louisiana Channel 7 News Report explains that numerous Louisiana veterans, who are considered 100% disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), are not eligible for the Louisiana...

On December 13, 2012, the Senate passed the Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012.  The bill, which can be accessed at S 3313, would provide fertility treatment or adoption benefits for wounded veterans who suffer from service-connected injuries to their reproductive organs.  The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for vote and, hopefully, will be signed...

I previously blogging about the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) website for researching prior BVA decisions being active once again.  For review, the BVA search engine was inoperable for a good portion of 2012. On the heels of that good news, I can happily report that the BVA’s website now has a new and improved search engine which permits a veteran to better tailor the search...

As documented in the linked Washington Post Article, according to a press release from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), veteran homelessness decreased by 7.2% between 2011 and 2012.  Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki is quoted as commenting, “This report continues a trend that clearly indicates we are on the right track in the fight to end homelessness...

As promised on Friday, I have linked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed amendment to 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 regarding illnesses secondary service-connected to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) at Federal Register – Proposed Change to 38 C.F.R. 3.310.  The proposed amendment will now go into a sixty-day public comment period. Further explanation is provided in the VA’s Notice of...

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that they are publishing a proposed change to 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 regarding illnesses secondary service-connected to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).  The current 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 states “disabilit which proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected.”  This is commonly called...