Opinion

Thompson v. Principi

  • 16 Vet. App. 467
  • 2002 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 903
  • 2002 WL 31549093
Court
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Filed
Nov 19, 2002
Status
Published
Author
Farley
On the bench
Kramer, Farley, Holdaway
Cited by
2 cases
Authority
More cited than 0.0%

The opinion

FARLEY, Judge,

concurring:

The elegant and eloquent dissent of our esteemed colleague prompts me to express my beliefs that:

Reasonable minds cannot differ on the fact that the veteran in 1993 signed and *472 submitted a “Former POW Medical History” report on which he checked the ‘Tes” boxes in response to inquiries whether he had experienced “intimidation,” “beatings,” and “psychological torture” while being detained in Switzerland during World War II. Record (R.) at 195.

Reasonable minds cannot differ on the fact that the Board did not discuss that report. Thompson v. Gober, 14 Vet.App. 187, 188-89 (2000). Nor can reasonable minds differ on the additional fact that the Board went so far as to state that “there [was] no evidence, nor [had] the veteran claim[ed], that he experienced physical or psychological hardships or abuse while interned.” R. at 6.

And reasonable minds, presumably even that of the fictitious Mr. Bumble, cannot differ with the inescapable conclusions that the Board’s erroneous ostrich-like treatment of this report and its inexplicable failure to include a discussion of the report in the requisite statement of reasons or bases for its decision, which “compelled” the majority to remand this matter (Thompson, 14 Vet.App. at 189 ), were not substantially justified.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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