National Organization of Veterans' Advocates, Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

981 F.3d 1360 (2020)

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National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates, Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
981 F.3d 1360 (2020)

Facts

The National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates, Inc. (NOVA) (plaintiff) sought review of the Knee Joint Stability Rule (the rule), which was set out in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Adjudication Procedures Manual M21-1 (the VA Manual) and governed veteran’s claims for service-related knee injuries. Under the rule, a severe, moderate, or slight joint instability rating is assigned based on the degree of joint translation. NOVA argued that the rule was too subjective and prone to error and focused too much on a rigid measurement system rather than on the actual functional loss of capacity suffered by the veteran. NOVA further argued that the court had the jurisdiction to review the petition because the rule was of general applicability and, therefore, an interpretive rule subject to review under 38 U.S.C. § 502. Section 502 contained two sections, the contents of which overlapped, namely § 502(a)(1) and § 502(a)(2). The secretary of the VA (the secretary) (defendant) conceded that these two sections could not be read as mutually exclusive. The secretary argued that for a rule to be of general applicability, the rule must be binding on the agency.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Dyk, J.)

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