Paralyzed Veterans of America's (Paralyzed Veterans) attorneys have litigated hundreds of cases on behalf of members and other veterans, helping them receive the benefits they have earned. When veterans are denied benefits by Board of Veterans’ Appeals, they have a right to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Our professional staff represents claimants in these courts and tracks legal issues that matter to veterans.

Paralyzed Veterans' Cases

Paralyzed Veterans’ attorneys recently secured settlement agreements in the following cases:

The first settlement was in Palaske v. Mansfield. Mr. Palaske is a World War II hero who flew more than 50 combat missions. Michael Horan, Paralyzed Veterans Deputy General Counsel, convinced VA that there was an error in a 1946 decision, and VA agreed to award more than 50 years of retroactive compensation.

The second settlement was in Bernstein v. Mansfield. Mrs. Bernstein is the wife of World War II veteran Frank Bernstein, who died in 1980 from complications from his service-connected diseases. Paralyzed Veterans Assistant General Counsel Jennifer Zajac demonstrated that VA should have granted Mrs. Bernstein surviving spouse benefits at an earlier date, which will result in approximately 13 years of retroactive Disability and Indemnity Compensation benefits to Mrs. Bernstein.

Hot Topics

Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
The Court recently heard oral argument in the case of Henderson v. Peake. The question before the Court was whether it can have jurisdiction over cases where a veteran files his or her Notice of Appeal (NOA) late because of mental or physical disabilities. Some courts have permitted late filing in these circumstances under a theory of equitable tolling, but a recent Supreme Court decision, Bowles v. Russell, has made courts question whether such late filings may still be permitted.

In Bowles, the petitioner was attempting to appeal the denial of a writ of habeas corpus to the Sixth Circuit, through the benefit of 28 U.S.C.A. § 2107(c) (West 2002), which has a specific, limited time period for filing. A judge gave him a deadline that was longer than the statute’s time period, and he filed his petition within the period allowed by the judge but two days later that the period stated in the statute. Finding that the statute’s filing deadlines were mandatory, the Supreme Court held that the Sixth Circuit could not equitably toll the deadline and the filing was therefore late. The Supreme Court also expressly overruled an earlier case that allowed a late filing.

Paralyzed Veterans submitted a brief as amicus curiae on behalf of Mr. Henderson, arguing that the Supreme Court’s decision has no application to the CAVC’s equitable tolling case law, which is premised on the Supreme Court’s decision in Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, a case which was not mentioned or overruled in the Bowles decision.

Read Paralyzed Veteran’s amicus curiae brief.

Federal Circuit
The Federal Circuit recently issued its decision in Haas v. Peake, M.D.. The court overturned a ruling of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that had found a VA legal interpretation unreasonable and, under the applicable law, that “Blue Water” veterans had service in Vietnam for the purpose of presuming exposure to Agent Orange. The Federal Circuit disagreed and found that VA’s interpretation, which excludes Blue Water veterans, was consistent with Congress’s intent. Therefore, only veterans who served “in” Vietnam are eligible for the presumption of exposure to Agent Orange.

Read the Federal Circuit’s decision in Haas.

Attorney Representation
In December 2006, a law was passed that will permit veterans to retain counsel earlier in the VA process. The law was effective in June 2007, and Paralyzed Veterans is working with law firms and legal education groups to create training programs in the hopes that all veterans will have quality representation. VA recently published its regulations that will govern attorney practice within the agency.

Read VA’s regulations.

VA's Claims Backlog
VA has proposed a pilot program called the Expedited Claims Adjudication Initiative to address its ever-growing claims backlog. Under this program, which VA will test in four regional offices, veterans would be asked to waive important procedural rights in exchange for participating in the program. The agency published its proposal in the Federal Register and sought comments from the public. Paralyzed Veterans has provided comments opposing the program because we believe that any real change in VA's adjudication process must come from VA, not from veterans waiving their rights.

Read Paralyzed Veterans' comments.

Other Issues to Watch

Interesting issues are on appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims:

Publications

SOAR, the Service Officers Appeals Report, is a quarterly newsletter providing information on cases at the Board of Veterans' Appeals, Veterans Court, and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; opinions and rulemaking of the Department of Veterans Affairs; judicial review; and other issues of concern to Paralyzed Veterans service officers.
Read the latest issue of SOAR.