Agent Orange ruling

News from VRNA Experts,
the National Veterans Legal Services Program

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on December 10, 2002 in one of the National Veterans Legal Services Program’s cases, Lisesgang v. Secretary, that the effective date for diabetes claims first filed between May 8, 2001 and May 8, 2002 should be May 8, 2001, and not July 9, 2001, as the VA had directed. (Claims first filed earlier than July 9, 2001, would also be governed by the Nehmer case and the effective date would usually be the date the claim was first filed.) This decision may cause the effective date to be earlier than the Nehmer rule in a few cases.

Those affected are Vietnam veterans or their survivors who first filed a claim for diabetes or death benefits related to diabetes between May 9, 2001 and July 8, 2002. Those who first filed between May 8, 2002 and July 8, 2002, benefit due to the general one year retroactive rule applied to “liberalizing regulation” such as the one in question.

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