D'Amico v. West

STEINBERG and KRAMER, Judges,

dissenting:

An en banc decision was requested by Judge Steinberg in this case in order to reconsider the holding of Laruan v. West, 11 Vet.App. 80 (1998) (en banc), that “before becoming entitled to ‘status’ as a claimant for [Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ] benefits, an appellant ha[s] first to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence (1) that he or she was a ‘veteran,’ or (2) ‘veteran’ status for the person upon whose military service the claim for VA benefits was predicated.” Id. at 84 (quoting Aguilar v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 21, 23 (1991)); see…