Julien P. Champagne v. Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

In order to receive disability benefits, a veteran must file a “specific claim in the form prescribed by the Secretary” of Veterans Affairs. 38 U.S.C. § 5101(a). Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) regulations govern the submission of claims for disability benefits, including the two most important types of benefits: claims for compensation for service-connected disability and claims for pension for disabled veterans. Veterans eligible for both types of benefits may receive only one, and the two options can result in vastly different awards. But veterans—especially veterans poor and disabled enough to qualify for both—often cannot independently assess their eligibility for, and amount of entitlement under, each benefit. Given that reality, VA regulation 38 C.F.R. § 3.151(a) reassures veterans that regardless of how they complete their application for benefits, “[t]he greater benefit will be awarded,” because a “claim by a veteran for compensation may be considered to be a claim for pension; and a claim by a veteran for pension may be considered to be a claim for compensation.” The question presented is: Whether the VA must process a disability claim as a claim for both pension and compensation if the veteran has a possible entitlement to both benefits and award “the greater” benefit available as provided by 38 C.F.R. § 3.151(a), or whether the VA instead has discretion to disregard a potentially meritorious compensation claim and therefore afford the lesser benefit available to the veteran?