WHAT IS THE DEEP ISSUE?
In determining whether or not a veteran’s formal claim for one condition raised an informal VA claim for a second condition, the CAVC must ensure that the BVA liberally construes the record to determine if the vetera…
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What is the Deep Issue in the Case?
This case involved one issue, framed in 3 ways.
In this case, the veteran was receiving disability compensation from the VA when he returned to active military service. His VA benefits were automatically te…
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What is the Deep Issue in the Case?
This case had two issues: one statutory and the other constitutional.
Issue#1: 38 U.S.C. §5103A(a)(1) requires the Secretary “assist a claimant in obtaining evidence to substantiate the claim.”
The…
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One of our clients’ cases, Martinez v. Wilkie, No 17-1551, was recently set for a panel decision by the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC).We are not yet sure if there will be supplemental briefing or oral argument at this time. I…
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What to do when you get back from a Legal Conference?
I just returned home from a multi-day legal conference: this time the Fall Conference for the National Organization for Veterans Advocates (NOVA) in Washington, D.C.
Here’s what I’l…
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What the ‘MUCMI’ is going on with GERD?
PREVIEW OF THE CASE:
General Overview of the Medicine
Some terms you will hear in this argument:
GERD is Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder. GERD can often – but not always -result from a dysfu…
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What is the Deep Issue in the Case?
When establishing a PTSD rating, the Board of Veterans Appeals is required to “engage in a holistic analysis” of a veteran’s mental health symptoms to determine the proper disability percnetage.…
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What is the Deep Issue in the Case?
Because a medical exam opinion addresses issues of material fact, the BVA must provide a statement of the reasons or bases for its determination that is “adequate to enable a claimant to understand the pre…
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This case involves the application of a duplicitous legal standard by the BVA to a veteran’s TDIU appeal, in what is called a “reasons and bases” error by the Board of Veterans Appeals.
While it favored a VA C&P medical opinion…
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This case involves several issues but centered around two: the veteran’s entitlement to increased TBI (Traumatic-Brain-Injury) and migraine ratings.
ISSUE ON APPEAL TO THE CAVC (TBI & Migraine Ratings).
The veteran in this case was in a c…
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ISSUE ON APPEAL TO THE CAVC: PTSD rating higher than 50-percent.
The veteran appealed to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) seeking a PTSD rating higher than 50-percent. The VA had performed a VA C&P examination and opinion in January 2019. Rely…
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Dear Veteran, We the People, the 79.8 million of us, voted that temporary economic stability should not come at the expense of Black, Hispanic, frontline workers, the immuno-compromised, and elderly lives. We demanded that the unity of our country m…
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Racist Ideas, Attitudes, and Behavior
On March 1, 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it proposed disciplinary action against three Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) attorneys and two judges who had repeatedly sent racist…
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By: Yalitza Ledgister, writing for “The Bridge”
One day my son came home from school and, pointing to his brown arms, asked, “Mom, why can’t I have white skin?”
After the initial shock and parent-fail slap wore off, I…
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Even as protestors march across bridges across the nation, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Golden Gate, history teaches us that America is resistant to acknowledging the persistent racism that plagues this country and even worse, resistant to do…
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