Gallegos v. Principi

283 F.3d 1309 (2002)

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Gallegos v. Principi

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
283 F.3d 1309 (2002)

Facts

Raymond Gallegos (plaintiff) filed a claim in 1993 for a service-connected disability for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) (defendant). The VA denied his claim. In 1994, Gallegos’s representative, a veterans’ service organization, filed a letter with the VA that stated that further development of evidence for Gallegos’s claim was warranted. The letter, however, did not expressly request appellate review of the denial. Gallegos took no additional action on the matter until 1997, when he filed an application to reopen his claim. The VA then granted his claim, with an effective date of 1997. Gallegos filed an appeal, claiming that the benefits should be effective back to 1993. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the board) denied this early effective date, holding that the 1994 letter was not an effective notice of disagreement (NOD) with the original denial of benefits, because the letter did not comply with a VA regulation that required NODs to include an indication of a desire for appellate review. Gallegos appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (the veterans court). The veterans court reversed the board’s decision, holding that the VA regulation was invalid under the holding of Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. The VA appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rader, J.)

Dissent (Gajarsa, J.)

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