Barnett v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he appellant was not prejudiced by the Board’s actions. First, she had notice of the new and material evidence issue, as indicated by her representative’s three statements before the BVA. In fact, her representative acknowledged the issue even before the BVA remanded the claim to the RO to issue an SSOC on the law of finality of decisions. Cf. Curry v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 59, 66 (1994) (when BVA addresses a question not considered by RO, BVA must consider whether claimant had notice and whether claimant was prejudiced). Second, the Board’s consideration of the new and material evidence question involves the same matter as the RO’s merits determination. See Bernard [, 4 Vet.App. at 390-92 ].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Meyer v. Brown

2. “Given the statutory scheme in sections 7104(b) and 5108, the new and material evidence requirement was clearly a material legal issue which the [Board] had a legal duty to address, regardless of the [regional ofSce’s] actions. If the [Board] had adjudicated the claim on its merits without resolving the new and material evidence issue, its actions would have violated its statutory mandate. Similarly, once the Board found there was no new and material evidence, it was bound by an express statutory mandate not to consider the merits of the case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Barnett v. Brown