VA Benefits News

Justice Cardozo once observed, “The work of a judge is in one sense enduring and in another ephemeral. . . .   In the endless process of testing and retesting, there is a constant rejection of the dross and a constant retention of whatever is pure and sound and fine.” B. Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process, 178-79 (1921).  I have come to accept that the Federal Circuit’s (Fed....

The following press release from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD) documents that Governor Christie’s administration has partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to provide resources and support for veterans seeking employment.  The press release can be found at LWD Press Release. More information about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s...

On February 21, 2013, the Federal Circuit (Fed. Cir.) issued a published opinion in Walker v. Shinseki overturning an entire body of case law that had developed regarding establishing service connection under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). The opinion can be accessed at Walker v. Shinseki. In Walker v. Shinseki, the Fed. Cir. held that chronicity is “only available to establish service connection...

On February 19, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) issued an opinion in Bowers v. Shinseki concerning the presumption of service connection for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and whether a period of active duty for training for a National Guard Soldier qualified for this presumption.  In Bowers, the veteran served in the Army National Guard from March 1972...

Mr. Earl Maxfield, Jr., served in the U.S. Merchant Marines in 1944, but has only been considered a “veteran” by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) since in November 2012.  This is the predicate for an interesting article by The Day concerning certain World War II merchant mariners who are considered “veterans” under Title 38. A “veteran” under Title 38...

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a critical government agency that provides much needed benefits and healthcare to veterans.  Sometimes, however, help comes in the form of a friendly neighbor and a community willing to rally around a disabled veteran to build a wheelchair accessible home.  As the linked CNN article documents, that act of kindness was the inception point for an expanding...

On March 18, 2013, the GI Go Fund and The Rutgers Office of Veteran and Military Programs and Services will be holding its annual veterans job fair in Newark, NJ.  The 2013 Veterans Job Fair will held at the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Essex Room, 350 Martin Luther King Blvd., Newark, New Jersey, 07102. More information, to include online registration for veterans and exhibitors, can be found...

On Monday, February 12, 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it has added more than 1,000 new mental health professionals and 200 support staff to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  This hiring increase is in response to an increase in the number of veterans seeking mental health treatment from the VHA.  Currently, there are more than 1.3 million veterans...

On February 4, 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General released a new report concerning the transition of VA claims system to a fully electronic model.  The report entitled, Review of VBA’s Transition to a Paperless Claims Processing Environment, Report Number 11-04376-81 (Feb. 4, 2013), documents a multitude of issues with transitioning the disability claims...

Today’s veteran-related news includes a Hartford Courant article about the backlog of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation claims at the Hartford Regional Office, and an article about a Guardians of Rescue program that tries pair shelter dogs up with veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The VA claims backlog and PTSD are issues that the veterans...