Smiley v. United States

156 Ct. Cl. 463, 1962 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 59, 1962 WL 9261
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 7, 1962
DocketNo. 132-59
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 156 Ct. Cl. 463 (Smiley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smiley v. United States, 156 Ct. Cl. 463, 1962 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 59, 1962 WL 9261 (cc 1962).

Opinion

Per Curiam :

This is a suit by plaintiff who is a retired Army officer released from active duty on April 3, 1947, not by reason of physical disability. Plaintiff now seeks to recover the disability retired pay of a lieutenant colonel from April 3, 1947. He alleges that he was permanently incapacitated from performing military service; that he should [464]*464have been retired for physical disability and that the findings and actions of certain retiring boards, including the Army Disability Review Board, were arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law. Upon consideration of the pleadings filed herein, the argument of counsel for the parties and the findings of fact of the trial commissioner, the court approves the commissioner’s finding that plaintiff has not established that the decision of the Department of the Army denying disability retirement to him was arbitrary or capricious. Plaintiff’s petition will be dismissed.

It is so ordered.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The court, having considered the evidence, the report of Trial Commissioner Wilson Cowen, and the briefs and argument of counsel, makes findings of fact as follows:

1. Plaintiff, a citizen of the United States, was bom November 21,1896, in Chillicothe, Missouri, and now resides in Tennessee.

2. Plaintiff enlisted in the United States Navy on March 26, 1917, and was honorably discharged on August 15, 1919. His rank at the time of discharge was Chief Radio Electrician. Plaintiff was in excellent health at the time of his enlistment in the Navy as he had previously been theretofore. At the time of his discharge he was found by the Navy to be physically fit and eligible for reenlistment.

3. On March 31, 1930, plaintiff accepted an appointment as Second Lieutenant, Military Intelligence, Officers Reserve Corps, and was again so reappointed in 1935 and in 1940. Plaintiff was given physical examinations by the Army Medical Corps on September 3, 1929, July 10, 1931, and February 8, 1935, and on each of these occasions was found to be in normal health.

4. Plaintiff was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Army of the United States, on March 16, 1942, and entered upon extended active duty on that same day. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on May 30, 1942; to Captain on December 8, 1942; to Major on June 22, 1943; and to Lieutenant Colonel on March 26,1947.

5. Plaintiff is credited with the following periods of active service: March 26, 1917 to August 15, 1919; August 17, [465]*4651931 to August 30, 1931; March 16, 1942 to December 9, 1945; and from December IP, 1946 to April 3,1947.

6. Plaintiff was placed on the Army of the United States Petired List in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel on November 30, 1956, with entitlement to retirement pay from December 1, 1956, under the provisions of Sections 301 and 302 of the Act of Congress approved June 29, 1948 (P.L. 810, 80th Congress), having been found, upon application, to be eligible for such benefits by reason of age and satisfactory military service.

■7. On December 22, 1941, and before he was commissioned in the Army of the United States, plaintiff underwent a physical examination at Key Field, Mississippi. The report of the examination stated that his respiratory system was normal and that an X-ray of the chest was “essentially negative.” The examining medical officers concluded that plaintiff met the physical requirements and recommended that he he accepted with minor physical defects.

8. On March 10, 1942, plaintiff underwent a final-type physical examination for active duty at the station hospital, Camp Joseph T. Pobinson, Arkansas. The report stated that his respiratory system was normal but that an X-ray of his chest disclosed a circular area of increased density in the lower left chest. The report found that plaintiff was permanently incapacitated for active service on account of “lesion, tuberculous, active, primary”, and “lesion, metastatic.” Limited service was not recommended.

9. On March 16,1942, plaintiff entered on extended active duty pursuant to Special Orders No. 61 issued the same date at Camp Tyson, Tennessee. The orders stated that plaintiff, having been found physically qualified for active duty, should comply with his original active duty orders dated March 10,1942. However, the records of the Department of the Army do not contain a copy of a Camp Tyson physical examination of plaintiff dated March 16, 1942, nor do the Army records disclose that any revision action was ever taken by the Army regarding the physical examination of March 10, 1942, at Camp Joseph T. Pobinson.

10. After receiving notice of the results of the physical examination conducted at Camp Joseph T. Pobinson on [466]*466March 10, 1942, plaintiff consulted.1 his personal physician, Hr. John E. Whiteleather, a radiologist of Memphis, Tennessee, who had examined plaintiff on March 15, 1942. An X-ray made of plaintiff’s chest at that time showed that it was normal, except for the presence of a small and somewhat rounded calcification about the size of an ordinary olive in the left lobe. Aside from this irregularity, no other type of respiratory disability was noted. Plaintiff then proceeded to Camp Tyson, where he was reexamined. Thereafter, he received the orders mentioned above, stating that he was physically fit for active duty and directing him to report according to his orders.

For a period of approximately 19 months thereafter, the condition of plaintiff’s health was good; he did not experience any difficulties with his respiratory system, and did not lose any time off from duty on account of illness or physical disability.

11. A chronology of plaintiff’s medical history during the years 1943 and 1944 discloses the following:

(a) December, 1943. Plaintiff had a “cold” but remained on duty.
(b) January, 1944. Plaintiff became worse and was in bed for two weeks. Diagnosis was influenza or possible pneumonia.
(c) January-May, 1944. Recovery was not complete. Plaintiff ran a temperature as high as 103° but remained on a duty status. Diagnosis of chronic sinusitis with chronic cough.
(d) May, 1944. Plaintiff had an attack of dysentery along with a number of other men in his outfit. Medical treatment at that time revealed an atypical pneumonia. He was in bed on board ship for 4 or 5 days, then up and about in the 7th Station Hospital in Africa.
(e) _ June 6, 1944. Plaintiff was discharged to duty. He still had a productive cough, but was temperature-free for 4 or 5 days.
(f) August, 1944. Cough improved but still present.
(g) August, 1944. (end of the month). Plaintiff again had dysentery, and cough became worse with temperature rise. He continued on duty and gradually improved.
(h) October 1, 1944. Plaintiff was admitted to the 43rd General Hospital in France.
[467]*467(i) October 6, 1944. Plaintiff was discharged to duty after a diagnosis of chronic sinusitis was made. His cough was mild.
* * * * *

12. On March 3,1945, plaintiff arrived at the Thayer General Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, where X-rays of the G.I., G.U., and1 respiratory system were repeated.

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Related

Ferguson v. United States
166 Ct. Cl. 310 (Court of Claims, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
156 Ct. Cl. 463, 1962 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 59, 1962 WL 9261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smiley-v-united-states-cc-1962.