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2006 News Articles › CLE Addresses Veterans' Legal Issues
CLE Addresses Veterans' Legal Issues
Article Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Written By: Russell Rawlings
Combining North Carolina’s huge military presence with the vast and extended U.S. military presence throughout the world, it should come as no surprise that this state may soon have the nation’s second largest number of veterans.
Many of these veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of operations will have service-connected disability claims. Many will need help in the initial filing and appealing of claims and in their appeals from their denials.
It is anticipated that many reserve and National Guard personnel who have served bravely on an extended basis, and during multiple tours of duty, will suffer from such disorders as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), due to the urban nature of the combat operations in those theaters of operations.
These and other expanding legal needs of North Carolina veterans will be addressed on Oct. 5 when the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation’s CLE Department presents “Veterans’ Rights: When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home.”
The program will be held at the N.C. Bar Center beginning at 8:45 a.m. Registration opens at 8:15. Webcasting will also be available for this five-hour CLE.
The purpose of the program is to walk the practitioner through the veterans’ claims process from the initial filing of a claim to adjudication, appeal and judicial review. The crisis involving veterans’ claims adjudication, and the lack of legal representation at the initial claims adjudication level is such that the NCBA’s Young Lawyers Division has designated veterans’ claims as its pro bono project for 2006-07.
Opening remarks will be provided by Robinson O. Everett of Durham, former Chief Judge of the Court of Military Appeals who chairs the State Bar’s Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP), and Dean Raymond C. Pierce of the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Durham attorney Craig M. Kabatchnick, former senior member of the Appellate Litigation Staff Group, Veterans Affairs Office of the General Counsel, is serving as program planner. Kabatchnick will address VA Claims: The Adjudication Process and Practice Before the Boards for Correction of Military Records and Physical Evaluation Boards during his afternoon presentations.
Veterans Affairs Claims at the Local Level will be addressed by Barry Cartner, State Veterans Service Office Manager, and Verna L. Jones, American Legion, Department of North Carolina Service Officer, both of Winston-Salem.
The judge’s perspective on veterans’ appeals will be discussed by Chief Judge William P. Greene Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Karl F. Schneider, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Review Boards), Arlington, Va., will address Boards for Correction of Military Records and Discharge Review Boards.
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones who serves on the Armed Services Committee will present Key Issues in Congress Affecting Veterans and Active Duty Personnel. Arthur F. Beeler Jr., Warden (CEO), Federal Correctional Complex, Federal Medical Center, U.S. Department of Justice, Butner, will discuss Veterans in Prison.
Veterans’ claims are of many types and can vary from compensation and rating determinations, post-rating reductions in VA benefits, medical and mental health care and the lack thereof, vast reductions in benefits and medical support for victims of post-traumatic stress disorder, medical malpractice and negligence at VA medical centers, delays in claims adjudication as well as the provision of VA benefits and care on a timely basis at the claims adjudication level all through the VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), home loan guarantees, widow’s benefits, hospital care/nursing home care, and eligibility for vocational rehabilitation.
Because of limitations on fees for helping with veterans’ claims, Kabatchnick said, veterans are unable to obtain the assistance of legal counsel in the processing of their VA claims. There currently exist bills pending in Congress addressing the fee limitations on handling veterans’ claims prior to a final Board of Veterans Appeals decision.
“An example of the negative impact of the crisis that exists in the lack of adequate legal representation for veterans at the initial claims adjudication level,” Kabatchnick said, “is that in North Carolina until recently I was the only attorney registered with the NCBA’s Lawyer Referral Service to handle veteran’s claims statewide. I do so primarily as a public service and because I acquired experience with veteran’s claims while I served in the Office of the General Counsel.
“An attorney can only receive compensation after the VA has rendered a final Board of Veterans Appeals decision on a veteran’s initial or reopened claim. This creates a vast void so that there is great need for legal assistance to get these initial claims developed in such a way that they are ripe for eventual judicial review by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Board of Veterans Appeals is staffed entirely by experienced attorneys, and often denials are based on defects in the processing of the VA claim by the pro se veteran at the rating determination level. Thus, frequently the rights of veterans are lost.”