Cook v. Principi

No. 00-7171 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 20, 2002) ; Clearinghouse Number: 55082

Description

Courts May Not Craft Exceptions to Rule of Finality of VA Decisions, Federal Circuit Says

Abstract

The Federal Circuit held that courts had no authority to craft exceptions to the rule of finality applicable to decisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In 1952 the Veterans Administration’s regional office denied claimant-appellant veteran’s service-connected benefits claim. Veteran did not appeal. In 1989 the Board of Veterans Appeals, reopening his claim, again denied service connection, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims reversed the latter decision, and the regional office made an award. Veteran appealed, contending that the effective date of the award should have been the original filing date and that the regional office’s 1952 decision contained “clear and unmistakable error” because it failed to give him a proper medical examination and thus was nonfinal. The board rejected the appeal, and the Veterans Court and a Federal Circuit panel affirmed. In en banc review, the Federal Circuit, noting that the statutory scheme provided for only two exceptions to the rule of finality—presentation of new and material evidence and clear and unmistakable error—and concluding that Congress did not intend to allow additional exceptions, ruled that a breach of the duty to assist the veteran did not vitiate the finality of a regional office decision and overruled Hayre v. West, 188 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 1999), to the extent that it created an additional exception to the rule of finality by reason of “grave procedural error.” Concluding that to constitute clear and unmistakable error a regional office’s decision must be outcome-determinative and apparent from the evidence of record at the time of the original decision, the court ruled that VA’s failure to assist a veteran could not meet this standard.

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Attorney Information
Docket Date
2002-12-20 00:00:00+00:00

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