Francis M. Jackson v. Eric K. Shinseki

The majority’s holding relieves the Secretary of his statutory obligation pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5904(d)(2) to honor a valid contingency fee agreement between the appellant and the veteran and allows an absurd result, which permits an accrued-benefits claimant to collect more monetary benefits than what was “due and unpaid” to the veteran at the time of his death. Therefore, I must respectfully dissent.

As noted by my colleagues, there is no dispute that the appellant and the veteran entered into a valid contingency fee agreement pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5904(c)(1) and (d)(1),(2)(A)(i)(ii).…