thedrifter
08-23-06, 01:08 PM
August 23, 2006
Retired veterans’ court jurist supports lawyers-for-hire
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
The retired chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has endorsed a Senate bill that would allow veterans to hire lawyers to help them with benefits claims.
Frank Nebeker, who was the first chief judge fro the veterans’ court, says in an Aug. 21 letter released Tuesday by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that S 2694, the Veterans’ Choice of Representation Act, is a worthy idea. The bill, passed by the Senate Aug. 3, would repeal a Civil War-era prohibition on veterans paying attorneys to represent them in filing benefits claims as long as it is part of the administrative process.
“It demeans our veterans to impose upon them a paternalistic policy which carries the inescapable implication that they lack sufficient intelligence and commonsense,” Nebeker said.
His letter is addressed to Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will take up the Senate bill after Labor Day when Congress returns to work from its August break.
“I am convinced from the thousands of appeals I have seen before the court that if many claims had been handled by legal counsel from the outset, a remand from the court would not have been necessary,” he said.
The current claims process is plagued with mistakes that slow everything down, he said. “In my view, something must be done to help veterans avoid this ingrained delay in processing claims, especially for today’s claims which involve increasingly intricate legal and evidentiary issues,” he said. “Vast numbers of benefits claims could be resolved much sooner if a claimant were able to exercise a choice to seek legal counsel in the beginning of the process.”
The former chief judge’s support is appreciated by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the Senate veterans’ committee chairman and chief sponsor of S 2694, said Craig spokesman Jeff Schrade, communications director for the committee.
Craig “is really pleased to have the backing of an expert like Judge Nebeker,” Schrade said. “Sen. Craig feels that veterans are adults, and should be able to make their own choices. If veterans want to hire an attorney, they should have that option. It’s that simple, really.”
The bill, Schrade said, “gives veterans the option to hire an attorney, or rely on knowledgeable volunteers as we have in the current system. The decision on whether or not to hire an attorney should be made by veterans.”
Providing free choice isn’t anything unusual, he said.
“Under current law, we don’t restrict what products veterans can buy. We don’t restrict them on who they can marry. Veterans have the freedom to hire anyone to paint their house. Veterans can hire someone to change the oil in their car, or they can do it themselves. But when it comes to hiring an attorney, current law implies that they cannot be trusted to make such a decision. That’s wrong. It simply makes no sense.”
Nebeker’s letter in support of the bill comes after Disabled American Veterans, a major veterans’ group, voiced its opposition to the Senate bill, arguing that involving lawyers would forever change a now-friendly administrative process.
Nebeker, however, downplayed the problem and said veterans’ groups may simply be concerned about losing some of the influence that derives from helping veterans file benefit claims.
“Surely they oppose, from a desire to protect a system of VSO representation,” he said. “I do not wish to be understood as denigrating those services. Indeed, VSO representation well served veterans and the benefits system for decades when that system was far simpler and encumbered with little delay. Now, however, the system is one of the most complex and delayed programs in government.”
Veterans could still, if they chose, file a claim on their own or to use a veterans’ group for help without having to hire a lawyer, he said.
“The idea of making it a criminal offense to pay or receive a fee for initial claims services — as the present system does — is simply wrong,” Nebeker said.
Ellie
Retired veterans’ court jurist supports lawyers-for-hire
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
The retired chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has endorsed a Senate bill that would allow veterans to hire lawyers to help them with benefits claims.
Frank Nebeker, who was the first chief judge fro the veterans’ court, says in an Aug. 21 letter released Tuesday by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that S 2694, the Veterans’ Choice of Representation Act, is a worthy idea. The bill, passed by the Senate Aug. 3, would repeal a Civil War-era prohibition on veterans paying attorneys to represent them in filing benefits claims as long as it is part of the administrative process.
“It demeans our veterans to impose upon them a paternalistic policy which carries the inescapable implication that they lack sufficient intelligence and commonsense,” Nebeker said.
His letter is addressed to Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will take up the Senate bill after Labor Day when Congress returns to work from its August break.
“I am convinced from the thousands of appeals I have seen before the court that if many claims had been handled by legal counsel from the outset, a remand from the court would not have been necessary,” he said.
The current claims process is plagued with mistakes that slow everything down, he said. “In my view, something must be done to help veterans avoid this ingrained delay in processing claims, especially for today’s claims which involve increasingly intricate legal and evidentiary issues,” he said. “Vast numbers of benefits claims could be resolved much sooner if a claimant were able to exercise a choice to seek legal counsel in the beginning of the process.”
The former chief judge’s support is appreciated by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the Senate veterans’ committee chairman and chief sponsor of S 2694, said Craig spokesman Jeff Schrade, communications director for the committee.
Craig “is really pleased to have the backing of an expert like Judge Nebeker,” Schrade said. “Sen. Craig feels that veterans are adults, and should be able to make their own choices. If veterans want to hire an attorney, they should have that option. It’s that simple, really.”
The bill, Schrade said, “gives veterans the option to hire an attorney, or rely on knowledgeable volunteers as we have in the current system. The decision on whether or not to hire an attorney should be made by veterans.”
Providing free choice isn’t anything unusual, he said.
“Under current law, we don’t restrict what products veterans can buy. We don’t restrict them on who they can marry. Veterans have the freedom to hire anyone to paint their house. Veterans can hire someone to change the oil in their car, or they can do it themselves. But when it comes to hiring an attorney, current law implies that they cannot be trusted to make such a decision. That’s wrong. It simply makes no sense.”
Nebeker’s letter in support of the bill comes after Disabled American Veterans, a major veterans’ group, voiced its opposition to the Senate bill, arguing that involving lawyers would forever change a now-friendly administrative process.
Nebeker, however, downplayed the problem and said veterans’ groups may simply be concerned about losing some of the influence that derives from helping veterans file benefit claims.
“Surely they oppose, from a desire to protect a system of VSO representation,” he said. “I do not wish to be understood as denigrating those services. Indeed, VSO representation well served veterans and the benefits system for decades when that system was far simpler and encumbered with little delay. Now, however, the system is one of the most complex and delayed programs in government.”
Veterans could still, if they chose, file a claim on their own or to use a veterans’ group for help without having to hire a lawyer, he said.
“The idea of making it a criminal offense to pay or receive a fee for initial claims services — as the present system does — is simply wrong,” Nebeker said.
Ellie