Splane v. West

Edward T. Splane (plaintiff) was a veteran with multiple sclerosis, having first experienced the disease before he served in a war. Splane applied for benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1112(a), which provided presumptions that certain diseases and disabilities were incurred during or as a result of an applicant’s military service. Section 1112(a)(4) specifically explained that a veteran who had served in the military for at least 90 days and suffered at least 10 percent disability because of multiple sclerosis within seven years of leaving military service would be presumed to have developed multiple sclerosis as a result of his military service. The Board of Veterans Affairs (the board) denied Splane’s application, finding that Splane was not entitled to the presumption from § 1112(a) because he had developed multiple sclerosis before his military service. Splane appealed, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims remanded the case to the board for further hearings. While Splane’s case was pending, the general counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs (the department) (defendant) issued a precedential opinion explaining that the presumptions from § 1112(a) did not apply to chronic diseases that a veteran developed prior to his military service. The opinion included the text of § 1112(a), the department’s regulations related to § 1112(a), and the department’s interpretation of § 1112(a). The opinion, which was binding within the department but not outside of the department, was published in the Federal Register without going through notice-and-comment rulemaking. Splane challenged the opinion in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, arguing that the opinion was a legislative rule that was required to go through the notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures imposed by the Administrative Procedure Act. Splane reasoned that because the opinion was binding within the agency, it had the force and effect of law. The department opposed the challenge, asserting that the rule was an interpretive rule that was not subject to the requirements of notice-and-comment rulemaking.