The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against two veterans who contended that their disability claims were unfairly denied, despite the evidence in their cases being evenly balanced.
In a 7-2 decision, the court held that the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims does not have to review the Department of Veterans Affairs’ use of the “benefit-of-the-doubt” rule in most cases. The rule requires the VA to approve a veteran’s claim when the evidence for and against approval is nearly equal, Military.com reported.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, clarified that the VA claims court and the Federal Circuit Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision, were not legally required to conduct a benefit-of-the-doubt review in these specific cases.
Instead, Thomas wrote in his March 5 ruling that the claims court was required only to examine the cases for any errors made by the claims adjudicators or the Board of Veterans Appeals, the outlet reported.
