Marlow v. West

12 Vet. App. 548, 1999 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 908, 1999 WL 676204
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
DecidedSeptember 1, 1999
DocketNo. 98-113
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 12 Vet. App. 548 (Marlow v. West) 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
Marlow v. West, 12 Vet. App. 548, 1999 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 908, 1999 WL 676204 (Cal. 1999).

Opinion

NEBEKER, Chief Judge:

The appellant, Marie E. Marlow, appeals the October 1, 1997, decision of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA or Board) which determined that she is not entitled to payment of special monthly compensation benefits from May 12, 1946, to March 23, 1980. Mrs. Marlow seeks payment of these benefits, which were due to her deceased father, veteran Albert A. Mokal, when he died in August 1992. The issues on appeal are whether a deceased Veteran’s right to receive retroactive compensation benefits for a period earlier than two years prior to his death, survives the veteran’s death, and — if so— whether the veteran’s adult daughter, as personal representative of his estate, is an eligible recipient of the retroactive benefits, or whether there are accrued benefits she may claim in her own right under 38 U.S.C. § 5121(a). We must answer these questions in the negative. Because as a matter of law we can reach no contrary result, we will affirm the BVA’s decision.

To begin, we note that redress for the family of this deceased veteran lies not in the law as written, but with those charged with legislative or equitable grace. The conceded errors, see Record (R.) at 336-39, made at a time when the law could have afforded to the veteran his just due, have been insulated from remedy under existing law, but cry out for equitable correction by those having responsibility for such actions.

I. FACTS

The facts of this case are set forth in considerable detail in the Court’s 1993 decision remanding the case (Marlow v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 146 (1993)), and in Marlow v. West, 11 Vet.App. 53 (1998). That more detailed discussion will not be repeated, but is incorporated here by reference. However, the salient facts will be recapitulated here, briefly.

Mr. Mokal suffered a grievous head wound in battle during World War II. Residual disabilities from his injury were profound, and he was service connected and rated at 100% from the time of his discharge in May 1946. R. at 4-5. His profound disabilities qualified him for special monthly compensation under applicable provisions of 38 U.S.C. § 1114 (previously 38 U.S.C. § 314), at a level above that for a scheduler combined rating of 100%. However, between his date of discharge and 1980, he was under compensated. He was paid special monthly compensation under section 1114(m) for loss of use [550]*550of one hand and one foot based on spastic paralysis resulting from bis head injury, and for aphonia (inability to speak, see Dorland’s IllustRated Medical Dictionary 105 (28th ed.1994) (hereinafter Dorland’s)). See 38 U.S.C. § 1114(m). However, between 1946 and 1980, VA regional office rating officers failed to consider his aphasia (loss of spoken or written language and comprehension, see Dorland’s 105), which rendered him so helpless as to require regular aid and attendance under section 11140), independent of the disability for which he was compensated under section 1114(m). See 38 U.S.C. § 11140).

In 1948, his compensation for loss of use of his right arm and leg was increased to the somewhat higher rate provided under section 1114(n). However, the combination of entitlements under both subsections (l) and either (m) or (n) of section 1114 would have entitled him to compensation under subsection (o) of that section. Subsection (o) provides a considerably higher level of special monthly compensation where “the veteran, as the result of service-connected disability, has suffered disability under conditions which would entitle such veteran to two or more of the rates provided in one or more subsections (J) through (n) of this section, no condition being considered twice in the determination.” 38 U.S.C. § 1114(o) (emphasis added). As the Court held in Marlow v. Brown, supra, because the rating decision in 1948 (that had raised Mr. Mokal’s compensation from that provided under section 1114(m) to that under subsection (n)) was the product of clear and unmistakable error in not granting the still higher compensation rate warranted by subsection (o), Mrs. Mar-low’s father was due retroactive benefits from the time of his discharge in 1946 until the error was rectified in March 1980. See 5 Vet.App. at 151.

Since 1980, Mrs. Marlow has assiduously sought these retroactive benefits on behalf of her father (until his death in 1992), and on behalf of his estate since his death. See, e.g., R. at 182-225. Her efforts before VA culminated in the October 1, 1997, BVA decision now on appeal. R. at 1-9. The Board concluded that her father’s rights to retroactive monthly compensation terminated with his death; that 38 U.S.C. § 5121 would permit payments of accrued benefits to an eligible survivor; that such accrued benefits are limited to those due and unpaid for the two years immediately preceding the veteran’s death; that her deceased father had been receiving full compensation under section 1114(o) for the twelve years prior to his death; and that, accordingly, as a matter of law, she was not entitled to retroactive special monthly compensation benefits for the period from 1946 to 1980. R. at 7-8. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

Our analysis is necessarily brief on the issue whether the claim for payment of the total amount of retroactive benefits survives the death of Mrs. Marlow’s father. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a related proceeding, has conclusively decided that it does not survive him. Marlow v. West, 1999 WL 594311, No. 98-7083, 1999 U.S.App. LEXIS 18437 (Fed.Cir. Aug. 9, 1999). In 1998, this Court dismissed Mrs. Marlow’s appeal from a September 13, 1995, decision of the Board which, inter alia, had remanded to the VA regional office the issue of whether there is entitlement to an award of retroactive benefits compensation in view of clear and unmistakable error in an October 1948 rating decision. Marlow, 11 Vet.App. at 55 (citing 38 U.S.C. § 7252(a) as precluding review of non-final BVA decisions). She appealed this decision to the Federal Circuit.

On August 9, 1999, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion affirming this Court’s decision in part and dismissing Mrs. Marlow’s appeal, in part, for lack of jurisdiction. Marlow, 1999 WL 594311, No. 98-7083, 1999 U.S.App. LEXIS 18437. While this opinion has been designated by the Federal Circuit as not citable as precedent pursuant to Rule 47.6 of the Federal Circuit’s Rules of Practice, it is binding here and must be cited because its effect is to preclude relitigating [551]*551this issue and to establish the law of the ease. See Fed. Cir. R. 47.6(b) (including these uses among limited exceptions to Federal Circuit Rule barring citation to non-precedential opinions).

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12 Vet. App. 548, 1999 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 908, 1999 WL 676204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marlow-v-west-cavc-1999.