APPLICANT REQUESTS:  That the Board reverse its previous action which denied his application for failure to timely apply, and consider the merits of the application.

PURPOSE:  To determine if the new information and/or contentions now submitted by the applicant, when added to the information already available, contains sufficient justification to conclude that the application was filed within the time required, or if not, whether it could be in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to file his original application which had been denied by the Board.

NEW EVIDENCE OR INFORMATION:  In support of the current request the applicant has submitted documentation which further substantiates that he is disabled from muscular dystrophy and that he had suffered from that condition from childhood.

DISCUSSION:  After considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant with the current request, together with the previously available evidence of record and the applicable law and regulations, the Board again concludes that the applicant has not presented, nor do the records contain, sufficient justification to establish that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to file within the time prescribed by law.

DETERMINATION:  The original determination made by the Board in this case is reaffirmed.

BOARD VOTE:

                      EXCUSE FAILURE TO TIMELY FILE

                      GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                      CONCUR WITH DETERMINATION

		Karl F. Schneider
		Acting Director