On September 28, 2016, Judge William S. Greenberg of the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) issued a memorandum decision granting the appeal of Wisconsin veteran Robert Klotter. In the decision, the Court held that the Board of Veterans Appeals failed to provide adequate reasons and basis for its determination that the US Department of Veterans Affairs did not commit clear and unmistakable error when it denied the veteran’s claim in 1993. The full decision is available through the court’s website at this link.
West & Dunn’s attorneys have noticed an increase in claims involving clear and unmistakable error, sometimes called CUE. “What’s worse is that we are worried that the trend may continue. Although the VA has started to increase the speed of resolving claims at its regional offices, this shift appears to be increasing the backlog at the Board.” reports attorney Travis West. “The Board appears to be struggling to keep up.” Attorney Shana Dunn confirms that the firm is “concerned that this pressure on the Board to catch up may result in an increase in errors. While it’s still too early to tell if the increase in pressure on the Board is causative of an increase in CUE claims, anecdotally the number of these types of claims that are being seen at West & Dunn is definitely on the rise.”