⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Federal Circuit hears Monette versus Collins. James Monette sought veterans' disability benefits for a mental-health condition he linked to military service. The Board of Veterans' Appeals denied the claim in 1990. Old service records were later added to his file, and the Board denied the claim again in 2004. The Board recognized the condition as linked to service in 2014, but Monette now seeks to have the earlier denial revisited. He filed a motion alleging clear and unmistakable error, or CUE. This is a very narrow way to attack a final decision for an undebatable, outcome-changing mistake, based on the record and law at the time. The Board rejected that attack, and the Veterans Court affirmed. The Board had held that the later-added records were not legally before it in 1990. That finding concerned constructive possession: treating records as legally available even though they were not actually in the claim file. A separate regulation, section 3.156(c), can require reconsideration when relevant old service records are added later. The question here is whether VA had to address that route before ruling on CUE. Listen for the difference between fixing an undebatable error in an old decision and reconsidering a claim because of later-added service records.

Monette v. Collins (No. 25-1451) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, argued November 3, 2026.