Summary
This Federal Circuit opinion reviews a Veterans Court decision affirming the Board of Veterans’ Appeals’ denial of a motion to revise a 1980 decision based on clear and unmistakable error (CUE). The appellant argued that the VA’s failure to obtain informed consent under 38 U.S.C. § 4131 undebatably constituted compensable negligence under 38 U.S.C. § 351 at the time of the original adjudication. Analyzing the statutory text, legislative history, and implementing regulations, the court concluded that there was no undebatable link between the two provisions in 1980. Consequently, the court affirmed the lower courts' decisions denying retroactive benefits.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the 1980 Board's denial of benefits constituted clear and unmistakable error because the VA failed to obtain informed consent under § 4131, and whether that failure amounted to a compensable negligence claim under § 351.
Holdings
- The Federal Circuit held that the 1980 Board did not commit CUE; the Veterans Court's decision was affirmed.
Key quotations
“CUE is a “very specific and rare type of error,” in which a claimant must demonstrate that “[e]ither the correct facts, as they were known at the time, were not before the adjudicator or the statutory or regulatory provisions extant at the time were incorrectly applied.”” (at 5)
Factual background
Archie A. Hatfield, a World War II veteran, received radiation therapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1978 and died in 1979 from complications. His wife filed a dependency claim, which was denied for lack of service connection. She later argued that the VA's failure to obtain informed consent under 38 U.S.C. § 4131 made the 1980 Board's denial a clear and unmistakable error.
Procedural history
The Veterans Court affirmed a Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision denying Hatfield’s motion for clear and unmistakable error (CUE) to revise a 1980 decision. Hatfield appealed that decision to the Federal Circuit.