The South Carolina Department of Veterans’ Affairs is working with the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), to bring awareness to resources provided for Veterans whose benefits cases are denied, and claims assistance regarding Burn Pits and PACT Act legislation.

NVLSP is a high-impact national non-profit Veterans service organization that represents Veterans and service members whose claims for disability benefits are wrongfully denied. It also produces and updates annually the Veterans Benefits Manual, the most comprehensive guide for advocates on Veterans’ law.

Stacy Tromble is the Director of Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Litigation. The Court is commonly referred to as the C-A-V-C. She says once a Veteran’s claim is denied by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, NVLSP will review the decision, and if legal errors are discovered that can be appealed to the Court, the team will then contact the Veteran and offer to represent the veteran at the CAVC at no cost.

“We appeal those claims to the court in hopes of getting the court or the VA Office of General Counsel to agree that the Board made an error in denying the Veteran a benefit, in which case we can resolve the case favorably at the Court,” says Tromble.

Richard Spataro is NVLSP’s Director of Training and Publications. He says NVLSP’s Burn Pits Claims Assistance Program is dedicated to helping Veterans seeking free representation before the VA on burn-pit related claims for disability benefits including those affected by the PACT Act.

NVLSP not only helps veterans whose claims for service connection for a PACT Act presumptive condition were denied after the law’s passage, but also veterans whose claims are for conditions which remain non-presumptive today.

“For disabilities that aren’t on the presumptive list and there is some indication that they may be related to burn pits, those are the types of claims we can help with. We usually encourage the Veteran to file the claim initially, and if they are denied, they work with a service officer for their initial claim and then we can usually look at that case and help with their appeal within the VA system, for example, requesting higher-level review, perhaps filing a supplemental claim, or going directly to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals,” says Spataro.

NVLSP also has a free app available to Veterans to assist with determining what benefits you may be entitled. For more information click HERE.