Dickens v. McDonald

HUGHES, Circuit Judge.

Calvin Dickens was an Army veteran who passed away while his benefits claim was pending. Ida Dickens, his widow, filed a claim for accrued benefits, which the Board of Veterans’ Appeals rejected for insufficient evidence of combat status. Mrs. Dickens appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, arguing in part that the Board violated its duty to assist her with the development of her claim. The Veterans Court held that it could not consider Mrs. Dickens’s duty-to-assist argument because she should have raised this allegation before the Board.…