Vet. App. No. 20-1424 _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS _______________________________________ MARY STANLEY, Appellant, v. DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Appellee. _______________________________________ ON APPEAL FROM THE BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS _______________________________________ BRIEF OF APPELLEE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS _______________________________________ RICHARD A. SAUBER General Counsel MARY ANN FLYNN Chief Counsel DUSTIN P. ELIAS Deputy Chief Counsel AUDREY L. LOZUK-LAWLESS Appellate Attorney U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of General Counsel (027E) 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20420 (202) 632-6789 Attorneys for Appellee _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .....................................................................................1 I. ISSUE PRESENTED ..........................................................................................1 II. STATEMENT OF THE CASE ............................................................................1 A. Jurisdictional Statement ..........................................................................1 B. Nature of the Case ..................................................................................1 C. Statement of Facts and Procedural History ............................................2 III. SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ...................................................................5 IV. ARGUMENT .....................................................................................................6 V. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 16 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CASES Burger v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 340 (1993)…………………………………………….14 Chudy v. O’Rourke, 30 Vet.App. 34 (2018)………………………………………….15 Fisher v. West, 11 Vet.App. 121 (1998)………………………………………………11 Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990)………………………….……………7, 16 Hersey v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 91 (1992)…………………………………………..7 Hilkert v. West, 12 Vet.App. 145 (1999) …………………………………………....16 Procopio v. Wilkie, 913 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2019)……...……………………..…12 Rogozinski v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 19 (1990)………….…………………………12 Shinseki v. Sanders, 556 U.S. 396 (2009)……………….…………………………16 United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364 (1948)………………..7 Vargas-Gonzalez v. West, 12 Vet.App. 321 (1999)…………………………………7 FEDERAL STATUTES 38 U.S.C. § 101 ............................................................................................... 7, 11 38 U.S.C. § 1116 ................................................................................................. 12 38 U.S.C. § 1521 ............................................................................................... 6, 7 38 U.S.C. § 1541 ....................................................................................................7 38 U.S.C. § 5103 ....................................................................................................9 38 U.S.C. § 7261 ....................................................................................................7 38 U.S.C. § 7252 ............................................................................................. 1, 12 FEDERAL REGULATIONS 38 C.F.R. § 3.2 .................................................................................................... 11 38 C.F.R. § 3.3 .......................................................................................................7 RECORD CITATIONS R. at 1-12 (January 2020 Board decision) ................................................... passim R. at 22-33 (October 2019 Supplemental Statement of the Case) ........................5 R. at 34 (DPRIS response) ........................................................................... passim R. at 35-36 (August and September 2019 DPRIS request) .............................. 4, 8 R. at 41-46 (April 2018 Board decision) ............................................................ 4, 8 R. at 60-77 (April 2017 Appellant submission) ............................................. passim R. at 78-96 (March 2017 Board transcript) .............................................................4 R. at 115-19 (September 2015 Board decision) .....................................................4 R. at 251-88 (Veteran’s Naval Reserve documents) ..............................................2 ii R. at 389-95 (March 2013 VA Form 9) ...................................................................4 R. at 399-431 (February 2013 Statement of the Case) ..................................... 3, 4 R. at 452 (February 2011 Request for Information) .......................................... 3, 8 R. at 458 (February 2011 Request for Information) .......................................... 3, 8 R. at 471-93 (November 2009 VA Form 21-534) ........................................ 2, 3, 10 R. at 499-500 (September 2010 Letter from the Veteran) .................................. 10 R. at 522-23 (May 2010 Notice of Disagreement) ..................................................3 R. at 527-29 (April 2010 rating decision) ................................................................3 R. at 534 (March 2010 Request for Information) ............................................... 2, 8 R. at 588-99 (March 2010 VCAA letter) .................................................................2 R. at 600-11 (March 2010 VCAA letter) .................................................................2 R. at 737-50 (February 2010 claim) .......................................................................2 R. at 789 (March 1998 application for marriage license) .......................................2 R. at 818 (April 1998 rating decision) .....................................................................2 R. at 828-33 (March 1998 application for compensation or pension) ....................2 iii IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS MARY STANLEY, ) Appellant, ) ) v. ) Vet. App. No. 20-1424 ) DENIS MCDONOUGH, ) Secretary of Veterans Affairs, ) Appellee. ) _______________________________________ ON APPEAL FROM THE BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS _______________________________________ BRIEF OF APPELLEE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS _______________________________________ I. ISSUE PRESENTED Whether the Court should affirm the January 28, 2020, Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) decision which denied entitlement to nonservice-connected disability pension benefits, where the Board’s decision is plausible and not clearly erroneous. II. STATEMENT OF THE CASE A. Jurisdictional Statement The Court has proper jurisdiction pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 7252(a), which grants the Court exclusive jurisdiction to review final decisions of the Board. B. Nature of the Case Mary Stanley, hereafter “Appellant,” appeals the January 28, 2020, Board decision that denied nonservice-connected disability pension benefits from her late husband, Phillip E. Stanley, hereafter “the Veteran.” (Record (R.) at 1-12). C. Statement of Facts and Procedural History The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from September 1961 to September 1963, and in active duty for training (ACDUTRA) and inactive duty for training (INACDUTRA) with the Navy Reserves. (R. at 251- 88, 492). In March 1998, the Veteran filed an Application for Compensation or Pension for a nonservice-connected pension, noting active duty service from September 11, 1961, through September 7, 1963. (R. at 828, 832 (828-33)). In April 1998, the Regional Office (RO) denied the Veteran’s claim because “[d]isability pension is payable only to veterans of wartime service” and his “service records show active service from 09/11/61 to 09/07/63, which is not during a wartime period.” (R. at 818). In February 2010, the Veteran filed another Application for Compensation and/or Pension listing his active service time from September 11, 1961, through September 7, 1963. (R. at 738 (737-50)). The Veteran listed the disabilities that prevented him from working were his “Lumbar spine condition, 66 yr old, 2 Heart stints, heart attack, COPD.” (R. at 747). In March 2010, the RO issued a letter to the Veteran requesting additional documents to support his application for nonservice-connected pension. (R. at 588-99). The Veteran responded that he had no additional evidence to give to VA to support his claim. (R. at 610 (600-11)). That same month, the RO also requested service records related to the Veteran’s dates of service in Vietnam. (R. at 534). The following month, in April 2010, the 2 RO issued a decision denying the Veteran’s claim for pension benefits because the evidence showed he had no wartime service, only active duty from September 11, 1961, to September 7, 1963. (R. at 527-29). In May 2010, the Veteran filed a notice of disagreement (NOD). (R. at 522-23). On September 27, 2010, the Veteran passed away and in November 2010, Appellant, his wife, filed an Application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, Death Pension, and Accrued Benefits, indicating she wanted to act as a substitute claimant. (R. at 471-93). In February 2011, the RO requested from the service department information for “pages from the personnel file showing unit of assignment, dates of assignment, participation in combat