Hensley v. West

212 F.3d 1255 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2000). ; Clearinghouse Number: 53044

Description

Veterans Appeals Court Used Overly Stringent Standard in Reviewing Claim’s “Well-Groundedness” and Improperly Applied de Novo Review

Abstract

The Federal Circuit vacated the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims’ decision that plaintiff had failed to state a “well-grounded” claim for benefits and remanded the case to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Claimant, a World War II veteran, received benefits based on a diagnosis stemming from exposure to mustard gas. In 1992 he also claimed a service connection for heart disease— a nexus with mustard gas exposure. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals affirmed a Regional Office ruling that the claim was not well grounded. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims found that the board had misapplied federal regulations but, relying on Epps v. Gober, 126 F.3d 1464 (Fed. Cir. 1997), found after a de novo review that the claim was not well grounded as a matter of law either. Before the Federal Circuit, claimant challenged the Epps holding that a veteran must present a well-grounded claim in order to trigger the department’s duty to assist in developing the claim. He also contended that the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims improperly made de novo findings on facts that had not been addressed by the board and that the court used an incorrect standard in determining well-groundedness. The Federal Circuit declined to reverse Epps but agreed with claimant on the issue of de novo review. Although well-groundedness is a question of law, a conclusion on this issue is based on factual findings which may be overturned only if clearly erroneous. The court agreed that the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims applied an incorrect standard and noted that the standard for well-groundedness was “uniquely low.” Any higher standard, said the court, would “undermine the entire veteran-friendly nature of the veterans claim system.”

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Docket Date
2000-05-12 00:00:00+00:00

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