Procopio: Blue Water Navy Veterans Entitled to 38 U.S.C. § 1116 Presumption
/Procopio v. Wilkie, docket no. 2017-1821 (en banc) (Fed. Cir. Jan. 29, 2019)
HELD: Blue Water Navy veterans who served in the “12 nautical mile territorial sea” of the Republic of Vietnam are entitled to the presumption of herbicide exposure and service connection under 38 U.S.C. § 1116.
SUMMARY: Mr. Procopio served aboard the USS Intrepid from 1964 to 1967, during which time the ship was deployed in the offshore waters of the Republic of Vietnam. In 2006 and 2007, he sought service connection for diabetes and prostate cancer, which the Regional Office denied in 2009. The Board affirmed the denial, as did the CAVC, relying on Haas v. Peake, 525 F.3d 1168 (Fed. Cir. 2008). In Haas, the Federal Circuit had held that the language in 38 U.S.C. § 1116, “served in the Republic of Vietnam,” was ambiguous and thus deferred to VA’s “reasonable interpretation” that required “duty or visitation on the landmass” of Vietnam or in the inland waterways in order to be entitled to the presumption of service connection for certain herbicide-related conditions. Haas, 525 F.3d at 1184, 1195.
Mr. Procopio appealed to the Federal Circuit and the Court asked the parties to address (1) whether the phrase “served in the Republic of Vietnam” includes “service in the offshore waters within the legally recognized territorial limits of the Republic of Vietnam” and (2) what role, if any, does the “pro-claimant canon” of interpretation of veterans’ statutes play in this analysis.
The Federal Circuit, en banc, reviewed the history of the Agent Orange Act of 1991 and VA’s implementing regulations, and assessed VA’s interpretation of the statutory language under the analysis set forth in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43 (1984). Chevron directs courts to first assess “whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.” If so, the court is to “give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.” If the statutory language is ambiguous, step two of the Chevron analysis requires courts to determine “whether the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute” – and, if the agency’s interpretation is “reasonable,” Chevron requires courts to defer to that reasonable interpretation.
In this case, the Federal Circuit determined at step one of the Chevron analysis that “Congress has spoken directly to the question of whether Mr. Procopio, who served in the territorial sea of the ‘Republic of Vietnam,’ ‘served in the Republic of Vietnam.’” The Court based this determination on international law which “confirms that, when the Agent Orange Act was passed in 1991, the ‘Republic of Vietnam’ included both its landmass and its 12 nautical mile territorial sea.” The Court also relied on the language in § 1116 that includes “active military, naval, or air service . . . in the Republic of Vietnam” as reinforcing the “conclusion that Congress was expressly extending the presumption to naval personnel who served in the territorial sea.”
Because the Court determined at Chevron step one that Congress’s intent was clear, it did not reach step two. The Court thus overruled Haas and held that veterans who served in the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the “Republic of Vietnam” are entitled to the presumption of service connection under 38 U.S.C. § 1116.
NOTE: On November 2, 2018, docket no. 17-1679, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Gray v. Wilkie, to address whether the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction to review VA’s interpretation of its own regulation when VA issues that interpretive rule in its adjudication manual. The manual provision in question is the one that excludes deep water harbors from its definition of “inland waterways.” On February 1, 2019, the Solicitor General submitted a memorandum to the Supreme Court “suggesting that this case may become moot” in light of Procopio. The memorandum notes that “the Solicitor General has not yet determined whether to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in Procopio” and, therefore, the Gray case is not yet moot – nor is it likely to become moot before the February 25, 2019 oral argument. However, the Solicitor General stated that the case may become moot after oral argument but before a decision is issued.
LINK TO GRAY DOCKET: https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/17-1679.html
[My opinion: It is unlikely that VA will ask the Supreme Court to review Procopio. It is more likely that VA will pressure Congress to amend the statute to define “Republic of Vietnam” as limited to its landmass and inland waterways.]
