VA Benefits News

On December 30, 2015 the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) issued a precedential decision in Kuppamala v. McDonald (No. 14-2449).  The decision can be accessed at the following link: https://www.uscourts.cavc.gov/documents/Kuppamala14-2449.pdf. The holding of the decision is finite and really only applies to instances where the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has referred a...

The Institute of Medicine was charged by Congress to conduct a follow-up study related to the long-term health effects of Project 112/Project SHAD in 2010.  That study was released this week and can be found at http://iom.nationalacademies.org/Reports/2016/Assessing-Health-Outcomes-Among-Veterans-of-Project-SHAD.aspx.  As the IOM report reflects, DoD has still not de-classified certain...

On December 29, 2015, the Wall Street Journal published an article that the “U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is considering whether that to allow class actions in the veterans’ court.”   The article can be accessed at Wall Street Journal Article. Although not specifically cited in the article, the appeal before the Fed. Cir. involves the Court of Appeals for...

On December 17, 2015, I blogged about the VA’s intent to propose regulations regarding presumptive conditions for veterans exposed to VOCs at Camp Lejeune.  I noted in a follow-up blog that “news sources quoted VA officials as stating that it may take up to one year for any future proposed regulation to become final.” On December 30, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs amended...

On December 17, 2015, we blogged about the VA’s intent to propose regulations regarding presumptive conditions for veterans exposed to VOCs at Camp Lejeune.  Other news sources quoted VA officials as stating that it may take up to one year for any future proposed regulation to become final.  Frankly, this is likely a realistic timeline given the requirements of the Administrative...

On December 17, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced an intent to propose regulatory changes to Title 38 that would grant presumptive status for certain conditions related to exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) while stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC.  The noted conditions were the following: (1) Kidney Cancer; (2) Liver Cancer; (3) Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; (4) Leukemia; (5)...

Recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs updated the VA Form needed to perfect a Notice of Disagreement, specifically VA Form 21-0958.  I have uploaded a copy at VBA-21-0958-ARE (Notice of Disagreement).  Substantively, the biggest change is a specific block for the veteran/claimant to indicate whether they are requesting review by a decision review officer (DRO) or via traditional...

At the start of World War II, my Pop went to officer’s training school and then enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and became a radar navigator. He was assigned as the Bombardier on a B-17 “Flying Fortress” with the 15th Air Force, 2nd Bomb Group, 20th squadron, based at Amendola in the Apuglia region of southeastern Italy, until the...

On the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Twitter feed, they announced that the Newark VBA Regional Office will hold a clinic on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 from 10AM to 2PM at the Newark City Hall.  Link to the twitter feed at Newark (NJ) Regional Office holding Claims Clinic on 10/14 from 10am-2pm at Newark City Hall (Main Rotunda). pic.twitter.com/VYbyHx4PtC — Veterans Benefits...

The Senate’s Committee on Veterans’ Affairs commonly holds hearings on a variety of issues effecting veterans. Most recently, the Committee held a hearing entitled, “Examining the Impact of Exposure to Toxic Chemicals on Veterans and the VA’s Response.” The testimony submitted at the hearing provides a good overview of issues pertaining to Agent Orange...