Hank* is a Veteran who was adjudicated totally and permanently disabled in 2016 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) due to injuries sustained while he was serving our country. When Hank came to Legal Aid to speak with an attorney regarding a different issue, we discovered that the VA had mistakenly been underpaying Hank. After investigating further, we discovered that the Hank was retroactively due nearly three years of partial disability payments. The Legal Aid attorney wrote a legal brief in support of this theory backed by evidence from the VA claims file, Social Security, and the Hank’s personal testimony. It took several months of patiently waiting before the VA ultimately accepted our legal argument and granted a full retroactive benefit of $50,000. Coincidently, the award came one week before the Hank was due to close on his first home! Hank was thrilled to be able to use the funds to install a pool, which he uses to manage his physical disabilities. As an added bonus, his family uses the pool to enjoy our South Florida weather!
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our clients.