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The federal government has a legal requirement to take care of disabled and injured veterans. When a veteran has a service-related disability and an honorable discharge, they can receive tax-free compensation depending on their disability rating. Currently, this can reach up to $3,400 per month (and some factors could increase your monthly payment beyond this). First, the veteran must demonstrate their entitlement to this money. This is not always a smooth process.
That’s when you need to call the military injury lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys. We understand what the men and women who have given so much to our nation deserve from us. We’re not just outraged when we see people like you unjustly denied your hard-earned benefits—we also know how to make the Veterans Administration and other public and private bodies fulfill their obligations to you.
You made a commitment to this nation. We’re here to make sure our country honors its commitment to you. Call Gomez Trial Attorneys now and let us help you.
The first step is to apply for disability benefits.
Your application must:
Service-related disabilities can come from:
The first thing that the Veteran’s Administration (VA) will do is review your application to determine if you qualify for benefits. This is far from a given, and the VA can and does turn down applications.
You can qualify for veterans’ disability benefits through a wide variety of injuries.
Here are some injuries that could make you eligible for veterans’ benefits:
PTSD has become a common ground for a disability application since this country has been at war for 20 years. Before you file a claim, you must have a diagnosis from a doctor who meets certain qualifications. In addition, six months need to have elapsed from when you first noticed symptoms. PTSD diagnoses will start at a 50 percent disability rating and can increase to 100 percent.
To receive disability benefits, you must have served on active duty and received a rating for a disability. Ratings are put in terms of percentages.Ratings describe how incapacitated you are from your injury. They go in increments of ten percent, and the higher your disability rating, the more money that you can receive.
The VA will give you the disability rating. That is not something that your own physician will do. They will review your medical file and doctor’s statement in making that decision. Your disability rating is supposed to represent the “detriment” to your earnings capacity from your disability. Some veterans may have multiple disabilities, making their rating even more complicated. If your rating is not what you think it should be, you can file an appeal or claim to possibly get a higher rating.
Once you receive a disability rating, it is not necessarily the final and permanent rating.
Here are some rules about what the VA can do to change your disability rating:
The VA is often not easy when it comes to veterans’ disability claims and benefits. Federal law tries to make the process easy for veterans because the entire system aims to ensure that those who sacrificed their health and well-being in service of their country receive compensation for their injuries. However, the VA often makes the process needlessly hard. In their defense, they believe that they are protecting taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, countless veterans have their benefits or disability payments wrongly denied.
The VA does not get the final say when it comes to your benefits. The law gives you the right to appeal any denial of benefits. This is often what veterans have to do to get what they deserve. The VA has an entire legal apparatus whose job it is to defend the agency when it says that you do not deserve a check. This is why you need one strong lawyer who is unafraid to take on the federal bureaucracy.
Veterans are often shocked to find that the VA has denied their claim.
Frequent reasons that the VA gives for denial include:
The VA’s denial is not the end of the story. You have the legal right to pursue multiple levels of review of your denied claim. Before you begin to think about an appeal, you should hire a disability appeal attorney to help you state your case. This is invaluable when you are facing the VA’s legal machinery.
Your attorney will work with you to figure out the best way to appeal your denial. The VA offers appeal options, and you will want our help to figure out the right one for your case.
Here are your appeal choices:
You may be wondering what to expect at a Board of Veterans Appeals hearing. After all, this is a high-stakes proceeding with your future disability benefits on the line. You will undoubtedly be nervous at this hearing, knowing full well what could happen. The first thing to help you breathe easier is knowing that you have an experienced veteran appeal attorney on your side.
An appeals hearing is a very informal proceeding. It could happen in an office or by videoconference. Most people will opt for a videoconference. You and your attorney are having a conversation with the judge about the issues in your case. You will explain why you think the VA made a mistake in your case. You do not have to worry about being cross-examined by the judge in an adversarial way. Do not worry about a tense courtroom environment. If the judge asks you questions, it is because they are trying to understand the issues in your case.
You have up to 90 days after the hearing to add additional evidence for the judge to consider before the resolution of your case. A Board hearing will add considerable time to your case, but it may be necessary to get the benefits you need if you have exhausted your internal review. Sometimes, you need your case to go in front of an objective judge. Even though the Board is part of the VA, its judges will scrutinize the record and overturn wrong decisions.
You have another level of appeal if you lose at the Board of Veterans Appeals, as there is a Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This is a federal court that has jurisdiction over veteran-related matters. If your case reaches the CAVC, the VA will likely be vigorously opposing you. Once the judge reviews your file, they will either affirm the Board’s decision if they find nothing wrong, or they will send the case back to the VA on remand if they found an error.
Usually, veterans’ benefits are the exclusive way that service members receive payment for injuries in the military. Veterans have very limited options to receive additional compensation from the government. Service members cannot sue the federal government for any injuries, no matter how they occurred.
The Feres Doctrine established an airtight—if unfair and overly broad—prohibition on most lawsuits in 1950. Therefore, injured military members must look exclusively at veterans’ benefits to get money from the government for injuries.
The Feres doctrine offers very few exceptions. One is if the service member was injured in the same manner as a civilian. For example, if a vehicle struck you while walking as a pedestrian at a military base, you could potentially file a lawsuit.
Call Gomez Trial Attorneys. We can investigate your claim for any applicable exceptions to the Feres doctrine. If we cannot find one, we can help you obtain the VA benefits you deserve or look into whether you have grounds for a third-party liability claim.
Service members can sue third-party companies if they caused their injuries. These include product liability cases when something that a company sells to the government injures the military personnel. There are numerous examples of military members being successful in these cases.
Military Injury Attorney, John Gomez
One major example of veterans being successful in such matters is the Agent Orange litigation, where plaintiffs held the companies that made the hazardous chemical legally responsible when they developed cancer. Another recent example is the 3M combat earplugs litigation where veterans sued the company that sold defective earplugs that were too short to give them full protection, leading to hearing loss. Plaintiffs have just won the initial cases that went to a jury, and the 3M company owed millions of dollars in punitive damages.
However, product liability cases against defense contractors are difficult cases. The defendants will try to rely on a government contractor defense, and you need an aggressive and knowledgeable lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys to fight for you.
If you have suffered an injury in the service, and question who was responsible, speak with our attorneys to see if we can file a personal injury lawsuit. Even if you cannot, we could help you qualify for disability benefits. You should certainly speak with a personal injury lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys right away if the VA denied your initial claim, because you have limited time to appeal the decision.
Contact Gomez Trial Attorneys for help at 866-TRIAL LAW (866-874-2552) as soon as possible. Consultations are always free.
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