Archbold v. Brown

9 Vet. App. 124, 1996 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 243, 1996 WL 208436
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
DecidedApril 30, 1996
DocketNo. 93-903
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 9 Vet. App. 124 (Archbold v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Archbold v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 124, 1996 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 243, 1996 WL 208436 (Cal. 1996).

Opinion

STEINBERG, Judge:

The appellant, Korean-conflict veteran Emerson E. Archbold, appeals a July 1,1993, Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA or Board) decision denying his claims for increased ratings for residuals of burn scars of his left and right hands, each currently evaluated as 10% disabling, and for an increased (compensable) rating for burn scars of the face. Record (R.) at 5-13. Pursuant to a November 1994 joint motion, the Court previously had dismissed the portion of the appeal with respect to a current claim for increased ratings for hand-burn-sear residuals; in the motion the parties had agreed that the issue of an increased rating for face-burn scars had not been joined in this appeal and is not therefore before the Court. The only issue remaining before the Court relates to the claim that an August 1958 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office (RO) decision contained clear and unmistakable error (CUE) in assigning no more than a 10% rating for burn-scar-residuals of each hand. In May 1995, the appellant filed a motion to reopen the record on appeal (ROA) to include certain documents omitted from the ROA. The Court will treat this motion as one to supplement the ROA out of time and will grant the motion. For the reasons that follow, the Court will vacate the Board decision insofar as it failed to address the CUE claim and remand that matter for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

I. Background

The veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from November 1950 to November 1952, with a tour of duty in Korea. R. at 18-20. In October 1952, a Military Physical Evaluation Board (MPEB) determined that burn residuals of the veteran’s hands were incurred during service and assigned a 40% disability rating, expressly noting that it was using VA’s Diagnostic Codes. R. at 115. After his discharge from service, a January 1953 VARO decision awarded a 100% convalescent rating, effective December 1,1952, for severe burns to his hands and face. R. at 134. Based on findings from a VA clinical record reporting a two-month hospitalization for plastic surgery (R. at 139-40), the RO in August 1953 reconsidered and decided that the veteran’s “service-connected disability warranted] an evaluation of 20[ % ]” (R. at 142), a 10% rating for each hand, effective July 1953 (R. at 143). In December 1989, he requested an increased rating for his hand-burn residuals (R. at 218), and the RO denied his claim and continued the 20% rating in July 1990 (R. at 248, 249). The veteran filed a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) in September 1990, stating that he disagreed with the 20% rating and request ing an examination. R. at 251. In January 1991, the RO issued a Statement of the Case (SOC). R. at 282-86.

In March 1991, the veteran submitted to VA, inter alia, a copy of the August 1953 RO decision finding that his service-connected disability as to his hands warranted a 20% rating and copies of the October 1952 MPEB findings. R. at 293, 295, 300-02, 305. In response, the RO in an April 15, 1991, letter, stated:

Our letter of Aug. 13, 1953[,] informed you that service connection was granted at the 20% rate for your combined disabilities. You had one year from the date of that letter to appeal this decision. Your right [127]*127to appeal has expired and your present claim must be denied.
Military Medical Evaluation Boards act independently, as we do and their findings do not bind us. We evaluated your claim on the evidence of record in 1953. You were properly notified of our findings in the above mentioned letter.
To claim an increase you will need to submit new and material evidence showing that your disability has, in fact, worsened.

R. at 312. In a June 6, 1991, letter, the veteran raised a claim that the 20% disability rating assigned by the August 1953 RO decision for his hand-burn residuals should be retroactively corrected to 40%, and he attached, inter alia, the October 1952 MPEB findings. R. at 317-20, 322-24. He stated:

The main point I would like to make is noted on page 3 of [the] proceedings of the [MPEB]. [Block] # 28 [of the form used by MPBE noted:] “Such unfitness is 40% disabling, in accordance with the standard schedule of ... rating disabilities in current use by the VA.” [Block] # 29[:] Such unfitness is permanent. [Block] #32[:] Recommendations and remarks “Plastic surgery can be accomplished....[” Block] #28[:] States very clearly that 40% disability was based on ratings in use by [ ] VA. [Block] #29[:] States clearly that this is permanent. [Block] # 32[:] [A]llows for the fact that plastic surgery can be accomplished at a later date.
My point is # 1, 40% is the lowest rating [that my disability] should have ever gone, based on VA rating[] practices. #2[.] This is rated permanent. # 3[.] This allowed for surgery at a later date.
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In summary[,] I feel that the 40% rating based on VA standards established October 9, 1952[,] should be honored, and that the amount paid since September 1,1953[,] • to present should be corrected, that is a 20% correction for four hundred thirty nine months.

R. at 318, 320. A handwritten notation at the bottom of the first page of the veteran’s June 1991 letter stated that the letter was being “accepted in lieu of [VA Form] 1-9”. R. at 317. In a July 10, 1991, letter to the veteran, the RO noted that it was replying to his June 6,1991, letter, and stated:

Please note that as we explained in our letter of April 15, 1991, the findings of a [MPEB] do not bind [VA]. Although they might state [that] they are using the Rating Schedule which [ ] VA uses, their determination of the evaluation based on the findings in a particular case may still differ.
We will be happy to reevaluate your claim if you furnish evidence of recent treatment for your service-connected disabilities or furnish us with authorization to obtain records where you have been recently treated.

R. at 341. In response to an inquiry by a Congressman as to the status of the veteran’s claims, the RO wrote in July 1991:

[The veteran] has made reference to the proceedings of his [MPEB] held in 1952 and its findings that his total disability evaluation is 40%. We advised him on July 10, 1991, that the ñndings of the MPEB do not bind the VA, despite the fact that it might use the same schedule for rating disabilities that the VA uses. In addition, we must base our disability evaluation upon the current severity of the veteran’s disabilities rather than on their severity in 1952.
We have accepted [the veteran’s] letter of June 6, 1991, as a substantive appeal and will presently refer his appeal to the Board ... for an independent review.

R. at 343-44 (emphasis added).

A statement from the veteran on a VA Form 1-9, Substantive Appeal to the Board, dated July 29, 1991 (stamped “received” on August 5, 1991, by the RO) stated, inter alia, that he was entitled to a 40% rating for his hand-scar residuals (R. at 348) and that “[t]his amount should be corrected for the past 400 months — using the same interest [and] penalties scale used by the I[nternal] R[evenue] S[ervice]” (R. at 349).

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Bluebook (online)
9 Vet. App. 124, 1996 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 243, 1996 WL 208436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/archbold-v-brown-cavc-1996.