Blog: News & Insights

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...

Let’s take a moment to recognize the commitment and respect for civics that our elders have and emulate their example!  Last night at the State of the Union, we got to meet Desiline Victor, age 102, who waited in line for over three hours to vote in Florida.  She became a US Citizen when she was 94 and has been voting ever since.  She may have needed to wait in line, but in New Jersey,...

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...

The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) has updated and reconstructed their website. The CAVC now has access to unpublished decisions/orders and provides a portal to the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) filings related to each decision.  The website can be accessed at CAVC Website.