Andrews v. Shinseki

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential. United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________ EDWARD R. ANDREWS, JR., Claimant-Appellant, v. ERIC K. SHINSEKI, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Respondent-Appellee. ______________________ 2013-7065 ______________________ Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in No. 11-2586, Chief Judge Bruce E. Kasold. ______________________ Decided: February 4, 2014 ______________________ KENNETH M. CARPENTER, Carpenter, Chartered, of Topeka, Kansas, argued for claimant-appellant. MICHAEL P. GOODMAN, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Depart- ment of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for respond- ent-appellee. With him on the brief were STUART F. DELERY, Acting Assistant Attorney General, JEANNE E. DAVIDSON, Director, and MARTIN F. HOCKEY, JR., Assis- tant Director. Of counsel on the brief were MICHAEL J. TIMINSKI, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, and 2 ANDREWS v. SHINSEKI RACHAEL T. BRANT, Attorney, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, of Washington, DC. ______________________ Before NEWMAN, DYK, and MOORE, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. We hold that, as a matter of law, Mr. Andrews raised a TDIU claim in his 1983 filing to the VA. The Veterans Court should remand the case to the Board for a determi- nation as to whether the record in 1983 established TDIU. If it concludes that the record did not establish TDIU, the VA must explain what legal principle justifies reaching a different result on what appears to be a more favorable record in 1983 than was present when the VA awarded Mr. Andrews TDIU in 1991. 1 COSTS Costs are awarded to Mr. Andrews. VACATED AND REMANDED 1 We note that the 1994 Rating Decision granting Mr. Andrews 100% disability for TDIU effective from 1991 explains that he had not worked for the previous year and worked only twenty hours per week at his self- employed lawn service for the four years preceding that date. J.A. 21–22. The 1983 Rating Decision discussed a medical opinion that Mr. Andrews’ PTSD rendered him “unemployed if not unemployable.” J.A. 14. It also noted that “[his] work history since leaving the service has been quite sporadic, and he has been unemployed for the past four years.” J.A. 16.