If your claim came back denied, or with a rating that doesn’t match what your condition does to your work and home life, that decision can be challenged. A rating that’s too low costs you money every month it stays in place.
Hill & Ponton’s VA-accredited attorneys have represented veterans and survivors since 1986, and our practice is limited to disability law. Our record on the cases we take on is a 96% win rate, and no attorney fee is owed unless we win.
Duluth’s Air National Guard base is one of three Minnesota sites where the Minnesota Department of Health found that PFAS had spread far enough to test nearby residential wells. If you served there, or anywhere else, and the VA denied or underrated a claim for a condition connected to your service, request a free case evaluation and let us help you appeal.
Our Legal Services for Duluth Veterans
- Disability Compensation: We review your rating decision condition by condition, making sure each service-connected disability is rated at its true severity and that your back pay reaches the earliest date the evidence allows.
- VA Disability Appeals: We read the VA’s decision closely, pinpoint the evidence or legal standard it got wrong, and build the appeal on that finding.
- Rating Increases: When a condition has progressed since the VA rated it, we document today’s symptoms and request the percentage the rating schedule assigns to them, up to a 100% rating when the evidence supports it.
- Special Monthly Compensation: Severe disabilities, such the loss of a limb or eyesight, can qualify you for extra payments. We find the Special Monthly Compensation the VA overlooked and appeal for it.
- Individual Unemployability: If service-connected conditions have pushed you out of steady work, TDIU can pay you at the 100% rate. We collect the employment and medical evidence that proves it.
- DIC and Survivor Benefits: Surviving family members may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation when service contributed to a veteran’s death. We take on appeals for DIC and other survivor benefits on behalf of spouses, children, and parents.
What a VA Rating Pays Each Month
A VA rating is a percentage, 0% to 100% in steps of 10, and the higher it is, the more tax-free compensation you receive each month.
If you have more than one rated condition, the VA’s combined ratings method produces a total below the plain sum. You can estimate yours with our VA disability calculator.
Current monthly rates for a veteran with no dependents:
- 10%: $180.42
- 20%: $356.66
- 30%: $552.47
- 40%: $795.84
- 50%: $1,132.90
- 60%: $1,435.02
- 70%: $1,808.45
- 80%: $2,102.15
- 90%: $2,362.30
- 100%: $3,938.58
A qualifying spouse, child, or dependent parent adds to the payment, and the VA updates the rates every year.
Duluth veterans may also qualify for Minnesota’s benefits for disabled veterans, including free vehicle registration and license plates for veterans rated 100% permanent and total, a free state park pass, hiring preference points, and more.
Work with us to get your benefits
Toxic Exposure Claims
The closest site with documented contamination is the Air National Guard base in town, but veterans may have also been exposed at other installations in central Minnesota and the Twin Cities, or in other states.
- Duluth Air National Guard Base: State health officials list the base among Minnesota’s PFAS sites. Heavy PFAS exposure may be linked to higher kidney and testicular cancer risk, ATSDR reports, and records of your assignment to the base help establish the exposure element of a claim.
- Camp Ripley (Little Falls): The Minnesota National Guard’s training center. Orders showing your training dates at Camp Ripley can place you there for an exposure claim.
- Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (Arden Hills and New Brighton): EPA has kept this former Army plant on the National Priorities List since 1983. Its groundwater holds TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, 1,4-dioxane, and PCBs, and ATSDR finds strong evidence that TCE can cause kidney cancer.
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul Joint Air Reserve Station: A small arms range landfill at the station took painting sludge and leaded aviation gas sludge from 1963 to 1972. EPA removed it from the National Priorities List in 1996 and has since recommended PFAS sampling.
Toxic-exposure illness often takes years to develop, which makes the VA quick to doubt it came from service. A denied exposure claim is open to appeal, and our lawyers are prepared to fight for the benefits you deserve.
What Every VA Claim Must Prove
The VA grants service connection only when three elements appear together in your record. The first is a current diagnosis, recorded by a provider at the Twin Ports clinic, a private practice, or anywhere else you receive care.
The second element is the in-service event: an injury, illness, or exposure shown in your service treatment records, personnel file, or accounts from people you served with.
The third, the nexus, is a medical professional’s opinion that your condition is at least as likely as not linked to that event, with reasons the VA can follow.
When a nexus opinion is missing or too thin to persuade, an independent medical opinion from a qualified provider can supply the reasoning the VA says it lacked.
Tell us about your case
When Should You Hire a VA Disability Lawyer?
Talk to a lawyer when the VA’s decision arrives and doesn’t square with your evidence. The time to request a review is limited, and waiting can cost you options. If we represent you, your lawyer can:
- Get a copy of your claims file and check it against the decision.
- Spot rating errors, overlooked evidence, and misapplied law.
- Recommend the review option best suited to those errors.
- Handle filings and deadlines so your effective date stays protected.
- Handle your Board of Veterans’ Appeals case, including a hearing before a judge.
Our attorneys win 96% of the appeals we accept. To find out how we can help you, request a free case evaluation. The earlier you contact us after a decision, the more of your review window remains for gathering evidence.
VA Facilities and Veterans Services in the Duluth Area
- St. Louis County Veterans Service Office: Help with veterans benefits from St. Louis County staff in the Village Mall Office Building, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 4815 Burning Tree Road, Suite 100, Duluth, MN 55811. Phone: 218-725-5285.
- Duluth Vet Center: Free, confidential counseling for veterans, service members, and families, including for depression, PTSD, and military sexual trauma. 4402 Haines Road, Suite 3, Duluth, MN 55811. Phone: 218-722-8654.
- Minneapolis VA Medical Center: The medical center for VA Minneapolis health care, the system that operates the clinics closest to Duluth. One Veterans Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55417. Phone: 612-725-2000.
- Twin Ports VA Clinic: VA Minneapolis health care’s clinic in Superior, Wisconsin. 3520 Tower Avenue, Superior, WI 54880. Phone: 715-398-2400.
- Hibbing VA Clinic: 990 West 41st Street, Suite 88, Hibbing, MN 55746. Phone: 218-263-1400.
- Ely VA Clinic: Open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 720 East Miners Drive, Ely, MN 55731. Phone: 218-365-0001.
Housing Support for Homeless and At-Risk Veterans
Duluth-area veterans without a home, or at risk of losing one, can turn to VA Minneapolis health care’s homeless program for addiction and depression treatment, a transitional or permanent home, job training, re-entry support after jail, money to prevent an eviction, emergency food and shelter, and health and dental care. The program’s staff can be reached at 612-313-3240.
A VA denial or low rating can leave you short on the income you need for rent and utilities. Hill & Ponton prioritizes appeals for veterans facing homelessness or the risk of it, and you won’t owe an attorney fee unless we win your appeal.
Meet Our Expert Legal Team
VA attorneys and case professionals assisting veterans in St. Louis County, Minnesota, and nationwide.
Let Us Fight For Your Benefits
Need help appealing a VA decision? Contact our disability lawyers for a free evaluation of your claim.