Beaumont v. Department of Veteran Affairs

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

We are asked to decide in this case whether the recoupment doctrine applies to the Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) withholding of disability benefits to plaintiff, Samuel Beaumont, after Mr. Beaumont’s bankruptcy filing and discharge. After learning of a large inheritance that Mr. Beaumont received in 2001, the VA determined that it had overpaid his disability benefit by approximately $18,000 and consequently reduced his monthly benefit payment in an effort to recoup this amount. Mr. Beaumont filed an adversary proceeding in his bankruptcy case, arguing that the VA’s…