Cleary Gottlieb successfully represented K.S., a Marine Corps veteran contesting an overpayment claim by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.).
K.S., who is rated unemployable and receives 100% benefits from the V.A. due to service-related disabilities, originally notified the V.A. that he and his spouse had divorced in 2006. The V.A., however, did not acknowledge receipt of the divorce decree until a subsequent submission by K.S. in 2014. In 2016, the V.A. determined that K.S. was required to pay back more than $18,000 in alleged overpayments running from the date of his divorce until the date that the V.A. acknowledged receipt of his documentation almost a decade later, and immediately began taking significant withholdings from K.S.’s monthly benefits.
Since March 2017, Cleary has represented K.S. in obtaining critical case records, filing multiple notices of disagreement, submitting additional documentation of financial hardship, and in submitting a formal appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. On October 1, 2019, K.S. received notice through his congressman’s veterans’ liaison that the V.A. had determined to waive the entirety of the remaining debt, and to refund all amounts previously withheld from K.S.’s benefits.