Brown v. Gardner

Under 38 U.S.C. § 1151, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (defendant) was required to compensate a veteran for an injury, or aggravation of an injury, that resulted from medical or rehabilitation treatment provided by the VA, so long as the injury was not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct. Through regulations enacted at 38 C.F.R. § 3.358(c), the VA imposed a restriction that such compensation would only be available if the injury resulted from fault on the part of the VA or from an accident. Fred Gardner (plaintiff) was a veteran who receive back surgery at a VA facility and later suffered pain and weakness in his left leg and foot. Gardner filed a claim for disability benefits for these subsequent complications under § 1151. The VA denied his claim on the basis that he had failed to prove fault or accident as required under the VA’s regulation. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) upheld the VA’s decision. Gardner then appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, which reversed the BVA’s decision, holding that § 1151 did not impose or authorize a regulatory adoption of a fault-or-accident standard for compensation. The VA appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court of appeals affirmed the decision, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.