Patrick v. Shinseki, No. 11-7012 (Fed. Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff's husband served in the U.S. Army, 1958-1959, and was discharged due to rheumatic heart disease. The Board of Veterans' Appeals denied a claim for service-related benefits in 1959 and denied subsequent claims. In 1985, husband died of an acute myocardial infarction. The Board denied plaintiff dependency and indemnity compensation, 38 U.S.C. 1310. In 1992, plaintiff sought to reopen the 1986 decision. The request was denied in 1999; the Veterans Court affirmed in 2002. The Federal Circuit remanded, holding that the government failed to rebut the presumption of soundness, 38 U.S.C. 1111 with evidence that husband's heart disease was not aggravated by his military service. On remand, the Veterans Court affirmed the denial on alternate grounds; the Federal Circuit again remanded. Plaintiff's claim was then granted and she sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412. The Veterans Court denied the claim, finding that the VA's position was supported by then-existing precedent. The Federal Circuit reversed. The Veterans Court failed to consider all of the factors surrounding the erroneous denial, particularly that the government had adopted an interpretation of section 1111 that was unsupported by the plain language of the statute or legislative history.
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