Jim,
I read a lot of your statements to other veterans and their wives to be very interesting and honest and right to the point. Here is my question and problem, I have an appeal pending since MAY 2010, all the v.a reps. i have spoken to all tell me the samething, your appeal is sitting at the (NJRO) and is waiting for a DRO to make a decision, my lawyer tells me the same. I also have a claim pending for A/O and I.H.D. i was first denied in July 1987, a V.A rep called me in NOV. of last year and said that i fall under the nehmer lawsuit, and that they are working on my case. how can i find out where i stand with both cases instead of getting the run-around. my lawyer tells me the v.a does what the want.
Reply:
You have a number of experts working for you and you don't believe them?
You even say, "all tell me the samething, your appeal is sitting at the (NJRO) and is waiting for a DRO to make a decision". Your claim is in a very long line of about one million others. That is not an exaggeration, that's how many claims VA has pending this month. In that long line there are tens of thousands ahead of you and thousands behind you.
I advise veterans that a routine claim will take 12 to 18 months to get through the process. Your claim is not at all routine as it is being reviewed for the Nehmer class. Nehmer isn't a lawsuit, it's now a law that is very good news for you.
You aren't getting a run-around. You're being told the truth. Nobody will take the time to tell you "where you stand" because to do that would be a mind boggling task...every veteran would be demanding that info and the whole work load would shut down while they answered your questions...which have already been answered for you any number of times.
I hope that while you wait patiently that you will spend some time on my web site. I have gone to a lot of work to explain how the process works and what you should be doing while it is going on.
The info you have been given is good. The bottom line is that your claim will be adjudicated when the VA gets to it and not one minute earlier. Nobody can predict when that will be. To try to hurry it up is guaranteed to slow it down. If you bug enough people, it may be pulled out of the line and reviewed and then put back in line...at the beginning.
Be patient, read my stuff at https://www.vawatchdog.org/ and I bet this will work out just fine for you.