When you file a supplemental claim, you have to include new and relevant evidence. I want to talk about different ways that it’s possible to do that. There are some obvious answers and some not-so-obvious answers.
The bar for new and relevant evidence is set pretty low. And it’s supposed to be. New evidence is anything that was not part of your C-File when the decision was made. And relevant evidence is evidence that has something to do with your specific claimed disability. Those are my definitions. The two terms, new and relevant don’t have a precise definition but I’ll say that I really haven’t seen veterans getting burned by that. The VA is pretty good about accepting evidence as new and relevant and moving on to a decision.
But let me give you some examples of things that won’t work. If you submit a copy of a medical record, a Dr.’s opinion, or anything else and there is already a copy of that exact thing in your C-File, the VA’s going to shut it down because that evidence is not new. If you submit a medical record about a totally unrelated medical condition, that evidence may be new, but it’s not relevant. So again the VA’s going to shut it down. My point with these is that new and relevant is a forgiving standard it is a standard.
So what are examples of things that count as new and relevant? One that I use a lot, with almost every supplemental claim, is a new lay statement. All you have to do is describe your current symptoms of the disability and the effect the disability has on your life. And while you’re doing that, make sure you talk about something that you haven’t mentioned to the VA before.
Another very common example is a new opinion from a Dr. This works even if the only thing that’s new is the opinion. By that I mean, the Dr. can look at all the old medical records that were in your C-File, and nothing else, and offer an opinion, and that counts as new and relevant.
New does not necessarily mean the evidence was created recently. If you find a medical record that’s 40 years old and is not in your C-File, that’s new and you can add it with your supplemental claim.
Now, do you need to submit the evidence with your supplemental claim? No. As long as you submit the evidence before the VA makes a decision on the supplemental claim then you’re ok. But you don’t know when the VA will do that so don’t drag your feet if you take that approach. If you know there is new evidence in your C-File since that last decision, you don’t have to provide that again, just mention that it is in your C-File and also mention the date it was added. You can also use the duty to assist to ask the VA to get records from other hospitals.
In the past, I’ve mentioned challenging the credibility and qualifications of any VA examiner who’s performed a C&P exam. Once you do that, the VA has to get the examiner’s qualifications under its duty to assist and those qualifications are new and relevant evidence and can support a supplemental claim.
One quirk I should mention, when I talk about the last decision, I mean the last decision where new evidence was considered. For example, let’s say you file a claim, it gets denied, then you appeal with a higher-level review, and that also gets denied. Then you file a supplemental claim. Your window for new evidence goes back to the date of the decision on your claim because the VA is not able to consider any new evidence on a higher-level review.
I hope that last part wasn’t confusing. The main point is you have a lot of options for what counts as new and relevant evidence. I should add, that just because it might be easy to open a supplemental claim doesn’t mean you’ll win. You still want the best evidence you can possibly get.
I hope that was helpful. If you want me to help you with your claim, you can reach out to me through the links on this website.