Covington Partners with Lilly Team in a Veteran Pro Bono Case

Covington Partners with Lilly Team in a Veteran Pro Bono Case

April 28, 2016

In a matter referred by National Veterans Legal Services Program, partner Ben Block and associate Dan Valencia worked together with the Lilly team, which included attorney Gary Rom, to represent a Vietnam War veteran of the United States Navy in his appeal from an adverse decision by the Board of Veterans Appeals concerning his disability claim for lower back pain.

The Board had denied his claim on the ground that his 40 year-old service medical records did not contain any specific notations of back pain. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) vacated and remanded the Board’s decision based on several legal arguments made in the team’s briefs regarding the appropriate burden of proof. The veteran will have another chance to pursue his disability claim in light of the CAVC’s opinion. Ben, a veteran who chairs Covington’s Veteran’s Affinity Group, commented: “We are grateful for Lilly’s support for these CAVC cases and for the valuable contributions that Gary and other Lilly team members made.”