Mike's On Going Story Dealing With
The Court of Appeals For Veteran's Claims
On April 16th of 2004, I faxed in my appeal of my claim, and just days later I
started receiving letters from lawyers (about 20 letters), all over the country.
I picked Sean A. Ravin as the lawyer that I was interested in, to help me, and faxed
him a signed release form on April 23rd of 2004. I received a letter dated 4/24/04
that he had received my signed consent form. In his letter he stated many times over
and over not to contact him in any way as he needed to go over my files and that
would take him "10 to 14 days approximately". After waiting for almost two months
with no word from Mr. Sean A. Ravin in any form at all, I gave up on him and turned
to The Veterans Consortium PRO BONO PROGRAM and signed up with them on 6/15/04. I
dropped it in the mail that same day.
(One thing I found interesting about Mr. Sean Ravin is that he says he has two
offices. One in Washington DC and one in Las Vegas, Nevada. All mail from him has a
return address for Washington DC and all the post marks are from Las Vegas,
Nevada.)(I also received two more solicitations from Mr. Ravin AFTER corresponding
with him)
On June 16 I received a call from a woman that said she was calling me for Mr. Sean
Ravin. She had no idea what was going on other than Mr. Ravin wanted to take my case
and represent me at court. I told her that I did not care to have a lawyer that
treated be as badly as the VA, in not keeping their word about replying. She said that
it was a one man office and he is very busy and did not have the time to get back to
me. Again I told her that if he is so busy that he can't find the time to work with
me, that I feel he is to busy to work on my case and that I had signed up with
someone else. I also told her that if Mr. Ravin called or wrote to me personally to
explain why two weeks turned into almost two months, that I might rethink my
decision. She went on to tell me that Mr. Ravin is very picky about whose case he
will take. I told her that I'm very picky about which lawyer I will pick to handle
my case.
After that call I see that the Pro Bono Program picks a lawyer for me. I don't get a
choice. Just have to wait now and see how they work with me.
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June 18, 2004
This morning I called "The Veterans Consortium" To ask and learn more about what I'm doing, and what was going to happen next.
I was able to talk to a lawyer (I forget the name.(my bad) He told me that the VA has asked for an extension on my case for 60 days, and it was granted by the court. No one will be able to look at my files until Aug. 2, 2004. The lawyer also told me that he has seen the VA ask for 30 day extension before, but never before has he heard of the VA asking for 60 days. People are puzzled by this, and say nothing can be done until my records are freed up on Aug. 2nd. Unless the VA asks for another extension. All that can be done now is to wait and see.
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June 21, 2004
Received a letter from the courts today that the VA has asked for a continuance 45 days, not the 60 that we heard. The date is the same August 2, 2004. The reason they asked for the extra time, is that the BVA has not given the VA's attorney my files for them to prepare their case with.
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June 28, 2004
I called the Pro Bono people today, to get some questions answered about the papers I got from the court and others that were on my mind, and talked to a Mr. Len Gilmer. Right from the start he seemed to be a very angry and upset person. After talking to him, I felt like I should look somewhere else for a lawyer. He could do nothing but yell at me and call me names, and was just verbally abusive. He said he was a DAV representative, so I wrote a letter to the DAV about him. Click here if you would like to read it. Before looking for another lawyer, I decided that I would give the Pro Bono people one more chance. I called back a few minutes later and talked a gentleman named Dave. Dave was much nicer, and answered my questions satisfactorily. He suggested that I check back again after the Aug. 2nd extension, then they should be able to tell me more.
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August 7, 2004
A few days ago The Department of Veterans Affairs lawyer, Mr. Sullivan, sent to me in the mail, a package that contained about 10 pounds of paper documents. The court gave me 35 days to respond. I contacted the Pro Bono Consortium, and was informed that their representatives have gone over my files, and determined that I have a good case against the government. They assigned my case file to a law firm in Washington DC. They now have to go over the files and let me know what my next course of action is. They said I would hear from then within 10 days.
To be continued.....
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December 1, 2004
Still to be continued.....
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May 5,2005
After several attempts both on the phone & emails with my lawyer, I was put off each, and every time, and told that something would be coming to me in the mail explaining, or I would get a phone call explaining, none of which has happened.
I still have no idea what is happening, I have no idea what the phone conference was about, I was told that they were going to talk again the next week. Then he would call me, and tell me about that phone call also. After writing an email to him, and asking him, "Why haven't I heard anything yet?", he said, that a lawyer, from the Pro Bono Consortium, has gone over my files and decided what he felt should be done, and I would get that information in the mail. Nothing has shown up yet.
I have another deadline coming up. May 27th.
Still waiting.
To be continued.....
Click to go to Mike's Home Page
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March 22, 2006
Click to go to Mike's Docket
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Mike Harper (BEING) - Docket number 04-0622
Veteran's Help Network
http://www.veteranshelp.com
Veterans Helping People and People Helping Veterans.