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Federal Circuit decides Agent Orange-related case involving veterans' benefits

"This case calls on us to address whether veterans who served on ships off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War served 'in the Republic of Vietnam' and thus are entitled to the presumption of service connection if they suffer from one of the listed diseases." A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today issued this ruling in a case involving claims for Agent Orange-related disability compensation.

Today's opinion explains that "[b]y regulation, the Department of Veterans Affairs has interpreted the phrase 'served in the Republic of Vietnam' to mean that the veteran's service must have involved 'duty or visitation' in the Republic of Vietnam in order for the veteran to be entitled to the statutory presumption of service connection." The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, however, rejected the agency's interpretation as unduly restrictive. In the decision issued today, the majority holds that "the agency's requirement that a claimant have been present within the land borders of Vietnam at some point in the course of his duty constitutes a permissible interpretation of the statute and its implementing regulation, and we therefore reverse the judgment of the Veterans Court."

Full post as published by How Appealing on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).