Horn v. Shinseki
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
25 Vet. App. 231 (2012)
- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
Dale Horn (plaintiff) was accepted into the United States Army for active-duty service in 1970. His induction medical records indicated no hip condition or other lower-extremity disorder, but Horn had in fact been diagnosed with a hip disease as a child, and within a few weeks of beginning basic training he began experiencing hip pain. Army doctors diagnosed Horn with the same hip disease and on a medical form marked an “X” to indicate that the condition had existed prior to service and had not been aggravated by service, without providing any additional evidence or explanation for this lack-of-aggravation finding. Horn was discharged and years later filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) (defendant) for a service-connected disability for his hip disorder. The VA denied his claim, and Horn appealed to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the board). The board held that the evidence showed that Horn’s condition pre-existed his service and that the notation on the form was sufficient evidence to prove that it had not been aggravated by service and upheld the denial. Horn appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Davis, J.)
Dissent (Lance, J)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
