Jim,
Recently, a Veteran that I am assisting claim status changed from "Certified to BVA" to Under DRO review.
The "certified to BVA" status was assigned approximately 15 days after the Veteran submitted his VA form 9 along with evidence that was not looked at during the initial review and in response to the VA SOC. The Certify to BVA status was the same for about 3 months and then all of a sudden changed and the claim is again waiting for another DRO review.
I went to your A-Z but did not find anything that could help me figure out what caused the DRO to take the claim folder out of "Certified to BVA" status.
The Veteran has sent no additional evidience since sending in the VA Form 9 and his claim folder was placed in "Certify to BVA" status.
Please provide feed back when you get a chance!
Reply:
There is a great deal of wiggle room on these things. Everything going to BVA shpuld be given at least a cursory glance to ensure that it doesn't generate an automatic remand back to the VARO. If a CUE is obvious, the DRO will make the revised decision then and there.
The point is to cut out a lot of the extra work and this will aid the veteran and the system. If and when you get the DRO decision, at that point you may still ask that it go to BVA if you aren't happy.
I always recommend to keep all we can at the DRO. Once a claim is off to BVA it's possible it will move onto "the hamster wheel". That's where it lies around BVA for 2 years, is reviewed and sent back to the RO for more work. The RO ignores it for months and makes a bad decision again. Back to BVA and so on. This can happen a dozen times with no resolution. I've seen cases that are a decade old and so confusing by then nobody has any clue what is happening. God forbid if then it goes to the Appeals Management Center. That's the black hole of the VA.
Keeping it local at the RO is always best if possible.