All eyes on US Supreme Court!

[broncovet]

The US Supreme court agreed to hear Kisor in December, 2018.  This might be the biggest thing to hit Vets law since Abraham Lincoln especially if this goes the Veterans way.    https://www.jurist.org/news/2018/12/supreme-court-to-reconsider-precedent-calling-for-judicial-deference-to-federal-agencies/

In short, there is a huge conflict between the "benefit of the doubt" and the Auer/Chevron deference, which allows VA to interpret its own regulations as they see fit, which is almost never in "the Veterans favor".  

This could immediately affect THIS Veteran, thou I have not reviewed his file.  A win for VEts could mean more, in my opinion, than BWN and Nehmer combined, because this could affect ALL Vets, not just a certain class of Vets such as Vn Vets.  

Edited February 1, 2019 by broncovet

[vetquest]

This may be a huge win for veterans if it goes right.  I was lucky in my BVA decision where they explained the laws behind the BoD regulations and then likened it to sandlot baseball where the BoD goes to the runner.  I will be looking forward to how this comes out.

[Richard1954]

If the va loses this case,  I am positive it will benefit a lot of veterans.

 I have a case right now that is on appeal requesting a separate 50% award for Sleep Apnea, where the VA has combined my ratings for COPD/Asthma and Sleep apnea into one rating.  We all know that Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder, not a lung disease, therefor there is no overlapping of the symptoms. The VA is the only entity in existence ( that I know off)  that calls sleep apnea a lung disease.

[broncovet]

Richard...

    This shows how ignorant VA is about sleep apnea.  There are 2 major types of sleep apnea:

1.  Central Sleep apnea.  This is a nerve/brain disorder.  Source:  https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/central-sleep-apnea

2.  Obstructive sleep apnea.  This means that something is "obstructing" your airway during sleep.  Its not a lung disorder:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obstructive-sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20352090

Notice the last sentence or two, where it links depression and sleep apnea.  

[Richard1954]

1 hour ago, broncovet said:

Richard...

    This shows how ignorant VA is about sleep apnea.  There are 2 major types of sleep apnea:

1.  Central Sleep apnea.  This is a nerve/brain disorder.  Source:  https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/central-sleep-apnea

2.  Obstructive sleep apnea.  This means that something is "obstructing" your airway during sleep.  Its not a lung disorder:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obstructive-sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20352090

Notice the last sentence or two, where it links depression and sleep apnea.  

Exactly why my claim  has been appealed to the BVA and will go further if necessary.. Once I asked a VA  Sleep doctor,  why the VA did this, and he said he thinks when Sleep Apnea was first identified by name, that the VA just though it was a breathing disorder, so it seem to make sense to put the sleep clinic in the Pulmonary clinic, and call it a respiratory problem. His opinion may be correct, but the VA has had ample time to correct this, in fact last year they came up with "so called" new rules for sleep apnea to be service connected  and this should have been discussed and changed then. Instead, they just ignore the Science. 

[Vync]

According to ScotusBlog, Kisor arguments are set for March 27, 2019:

https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/kisor-v-wilkie/

Times like this I wish the supremes allowed cameras in the courtroom so we could watch live on CSPAN. I would grab the popcorn!

Quote

Kisor v. Wilkie

 

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
18-15	Fed. Cir.	Mar 27, 2019	TBD	TBD	TBD	OT 2018

 

Issue: Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

• Symposium: Government agencies shouldn’t get to put a thumb on the scales (Jonathan Adler)
• Symposium: Why Kisor is a case to watch (Brianne Gorod)
• Symposium: Reverse Seminole Rock and Auer (Elizabeth Murrill)
• Symposium: The puzzling and troubling grant in Kisor (Gillian Metzger)
• Symposium: The Supreme Court and the forgotten “Three Ring Government” (Kimberly Hermann)
• Symposium: Tampering with the structure of administrative law (Adrian Vermeule)
• Justices to tackle important agency-deference question: In Plain English (Amy Howe)
• One new grant, one dissent from the denial of review (Amy Howe)