CAVC Case 97-679: Psychiatric
CAVCReal U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) decision · December 23, 1999 · KRAMER
This is a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims — the federal court that reviews Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions, one level above the Board. Court decisions can vacate, reverse, or affirm what the Board did.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
2026 base rates, all ratings (veteran alone)
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
Conditions Claimed
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Issues on Appeal
PsychiatricBackSkinTDIUEye
Why It Was Decided This Way
A January 1979 BVA decision denied an increased rating for schizophrenia and denied a claim for a rating of total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU); although the Board denied the TDIU claim, it reported in the evidence section that the veteran had a 10th grade education and that a physician had concluded that the veteran "would not be able to tolerate work pressures of unskilled work".
The RO notified the appellant in February 1994 that it had denied her DIC claim on the ground 4 that (notwithstanding the express nature of her claim) the veteran's death was not service connected.
§ 1318(b)(1), the surviving spouse of a veteran who dies from an injury or disease that is not service connected is also entitled to DIC benefits "in the same manner as if the veteran's death was service connected", if the veteran "was in receipt of or entitled to receive .
Before going further, however, we must determine whether the Court has jurisdiction over the matters of the section 1318 theories that the Board did not address.
For the reasons that follow, the Court holds that the Board erred in imposing such a limitation on the RO's consideration.
In the instant appeal, the appellant asserts that the Board erred by misidentifying the 1982 RO decision as the target of her CUE attack and that there was CUE in the October 1984 RO and the 1979 BVA decisions.
§ 5110(i) (when previously disallowed claim is reopened and allowed on basis of new and material evidence in form of service department records, effective date is date such disallowed claim was filed).
Although the Court has not previously outlined exactly how much specificity is required in order to raise a section 1318 CUE theory, we hold today that a section 1318 DIC claimant must provide at least the following: The date or approximate date of the decision sought to be attacked collaterally, or otherwise provide sufficient detail so as to identify clearly the subject prior decision, and must indicate how, based on the evidence of record and the law at the time of the decision being attacked, the veteran would have been entitled to have prevailed so as to have been receiving a total disability rating for ten years immediately preceding the veteran's death.
Authorities Cited
Regulations Cited (38 CFR / 38 USC)
Denial Type
Not Service Connected|Not New Material|Cue
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