Legal Question in Veterans Law in Ohio

As a Vietnam Vet I have received 30% disability for well over 20 years for facial scars.(10% each for 3 scars or set of scars) recently I was awarded new compensation of 30% for PTDS and 10% if tinnitus. However, instead of rising to 70% total I only rose to 50% total because they evaluated down.. 30% for the PTSD then 10 of the remaining 70-then 10% of the remaining 63 - then 10% of the remaining 56.70 - finally 10% of the remaining 51.03 = ,in reverse order, 5.10 + 5.67 + 6.30 + 7.00 + 30.00 = total of 54.07% which, when rounded to the nearest 10th = 50% disability. It seems to me that this formula, whether intentional or not, circumnavigates CFR 3.951 that says an award received for 20 years or longer can not be lowered unless it was fraud to begin with. To my vested 30% should have been added 40% to make an award of 70%. Even if we allow a downflow on the new award it would be 37% added to the existing 30% totaling 67% which still rounds to 70%. Please provide case law to back me up? I want to appeal the decision amount.


Asked on 7/16/10, 12:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jill Mitchell-Thein Heard & Smith, LLP

According to VA math, it looks like your combined rating should be 60 percent. It doesn't sound like the new ratings affected your old one at all. I'm not sure about your calculations, but I don't think that's how they do it. Under VA math, 30 plus 30 plus 10 comes to 60. So you may need to appeal the combined rating unless there is some explanation for the 50 percent they assigned. And depending on what your medical says, you may want to appeal the 30 for ptsd. It may be accurate, but I see a lot of cases where they assign 30 to a vet who is entitled to 50 or 70. Feel free to email me directly if you have any more questions at [email protected].

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Answered on 7/17/10, 8:13 am


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