BVA Tag

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...

Last week, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals released its 2014 Annual Report.  The report can be accessed at the following link BVA 2014 Annual Report. Statistically, the Board has seen a steady increase in the number of appeals filed since fiscal year 2011.  The Board also anticipates an increase in the number of appeals in fiscal year 2015.  The Board documents a significant increase in...

On April 23, 2015, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claim (CAVC) remanded, in pertinent part, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision denying service connection for conditions related to TCDD (Agent Orange) exposure for Mr. Gray a Vietnam-era veteran.  I don’t want to give away the end of the movie, but the question of whether Mr. Gray is a veteran with service in Vietnam under...

Last week, the St. Paul Pension Management Center granted on appeal the surviving spouse of a veteran Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC).  The issue on appeal involved a dependency status question when the marriage lasted less than one year.  While marriage for one year is the normal predicate question for spousal status, in this case “status” was satisfied under 38 C.F.R....

Of recent, we had a few favorable decisions that address similar issues than may provide insight for veterans with similar concerns.  In this Blog, it involves proof of service in the Republic of Vietnam. In terms of the little things, the now-updated version of Acrobat Reader permits me to save already-filled Standard Form (SF) 180s.  This form is used to make a request for military personnel...

We recently began representation of a Korean War veteran who had appealed a denial of service connection for renal cancer causally-related to benzene exposure.  During the initial triage of claim and legal memorandum to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board), we had briefed a few issues regarding Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998) and the C&P examiner’s misreading of a...

On September 22, 2014, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) granted service connection for an acquired mental health disorder and tinnitus for a Navy veteran.  These disabilities related to documented TBI incidents that occurred while on active-duty service during the 1980s.  The Board remanded to the VA Regional Office to assess the level of disability for the now-service connected...

Although we were only involved in the claim for the last year, after multiple now-final denials (dating back to the 1960s) and a request to reopen that has been pending over ten years at various levels of the adjudication process, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) granted service connection for an Army Security Agency (ASA) veteran with a severe lumbar-spine disability that he...

On January 15, 2013, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) issued a panel opinion in El-Amin v. Shinseki.  This case arises out of a death and indemnity compensation (DIC) claim by the veteran’s spouse, Mrs. El-Amin, based upon Mr. El-Amin’s death due to cirrhosis of the liver.  At the time of the veteran’s death, he had been granted a 70% disability rating for service-connected post...

On January 4, 2012, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) published two new opinions/orders.  One of the cases, Checo v. Shinseki, concerned an untimely Notice of Appeal before the CVAC.  Earlier this month, we published a short article on appeals before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  The article, which can be accessed at Article on VA Appeals, provides an overview of the...