You may be thinking, it’s a supplemental claim, what’s there to strategize about? You get new and relevant evidence and you send it to the VA with the right form. That’s all there is to it. That certainly is the minimum requirement, but you can do more to help yourself.
Before I get into this, I want to say that my strategy for how I approach supplemental claims, and anything else I do, is constantly evolving. That’s a reality of life. We live in the real world where things are always changing and if we stick to a plan after it becomes irrelevant to the real world, we’re asking for trouble. Again this is how I approach supplemental claims now, but no strategy should be used blindly.
Step 1: You have to understand exactly why the VA denied your claim or rated you too low, or whatever the issue is. You have to know this, so you know what you need to prove. Then you know what new and relevant evidence you need to get to prove those things.
Step 2: Gather the new and relevant evidence which can be almost anything. Lay statements and medical opinions are the most common, but anything that is new and relevant and will help you counter the VA’s reason for its denial is fair game.
Step 3 is where I write the argument that I’m going to submit with the supplemental claim. The argument should list all the new evidence and explain why it’s relevant. Now, everything up to this point is pretty run-of-the-mill. But here is where you have to apply some judgment. You need to write something that is convincing, and you have to assume the rater will at best only skim whatever you’re going to write. That second part is a problem for folks, especially lawyers. We think people will be blown away by the power of our words, the light will shine down from above, and they will humbly acknowledge their errors. No, in reality, we usually lose people’s attention very quickly and need to plan for that.
So, know your audience. The rater isn’t going to read your angry screed about how awful the VA is. So leave that stuff out. You aren’t going to get much of their time and attention, use what little you have to highlight the most important parts of that new and relevant evidence and explain why that evidence means the rater should grant your claim. Focus on the biggest and most impactful things. That’s your best chance. I tend to focus on the facts and evidence. I mention some law but don’t hit the law very hard in a supplemental claim.
The other thing you want to put in your argument are things you need to say so you can appeal it later if you need to. Good examples of that are raising the issue of secondary service connection, particularly through intermediate conditions. A very common example of this is Sleep Apnea, secondary to PTSD with an intermediate condition of obesity. You need to say these things somewhere so that eventually if you have to can show the BVA or the Court you raised the issue and the VA ignored it.
Another thing I have started to almost always is to challenge the qualifications of every VA examiner in supplemental claims and invoke the VA’s duty to assist to make them produce the examiner’s qualification.
Step 4: Sometimes your argument will outrun your evidence. So go back and check that your new and relevant evidence actually does support all those things you wrote.
Step 5: file it.
Alright, the argument part of this, step 3, was the most in-depth. That’s appropriate. It’s your chance to persuade the VA they are wrong, be deliberate about it and use it wisely. I hope you found this helpful. If you want me to help you with your claim you can reach out to me through the links on this website.