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Council of the Veterans' Administration unappealed from will constitute a disagreement under section 19 of the World War Veterans' Act, and whether, in cases in which claims are denied by the Insurance Claims Council and an appeal is taken by the claimant from that decision, you may delegate to the Solicitor of the Veterans' Administration authority to take final action for you and such action by the Solicitor constitutes a disagreement as required by section 19 of the Act, in the event a proposed regulation, accompanying your letter, is promulgated. That proposed regulation provides: "1000. ESTABLISHMENT OF INSURANCE CLAIMS COUNCIL.There is hereby established in the office of the Assistant Administrator in Charge of Finance and Insurance an Insurance Claims Council

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"A. Duties and functions.-The Insurance Claims Council is vested with the exclusive authority to render original decisions on all claims for permanent and total benefits for insurance, * *

"B. Where the Insurance Claims Council finds permanent and total disability to exist, such decision shall show the effective date thereof and in case of Government Life Insurance, the decision shall show the date of receipt of due proof. The case will be adjudicated on the basis of such decision.

"C. Where the Insurance Claims Council finds that permanent total disability does not exist as alleged, such denial shall be final except as hereinafter provided, and a letter so advising the claimant will be concurrently prepared and sent to the claimant at his last address of record. Said letter I will advise the claimant the date on which the Council denied the claim, and that the claimant may elect to consider such denial final for purposes of instituting suit under Section 19 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, or may appeal personally, or through his duly authorized representattive, to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, provided such appeal is made within sixty days from the date of receipt of notice denying the claim. Said letter should further advise the claimant that if he elects to accept the denial of the claim by the Council as final, the statute of limitations applicable to suits under Section 19 shall com

mence to run from and after his receipt of the notice of denial of the claim.

"If an appeal is filed it shall be forwarded to the Administrator, through the Assistant Administrator in Charge of Finance and Insurance, who shall at the time of forwarding the same indicate his approval or disapproval of the decision of the Insurance Claims Council, from which appeal is taken. If no appeal is filed within the time fixed herein, allowing reasonable time for delivery of mail, the case folder shall be forwarded to the appropriate office or station."

The power to make rules and regulations under the World War Veterans' Act is contained in section 5, as amended by the Act of July 3, 1930, c. 849, 46 Stat. 991 (U. S. C., Supp. IV, Title 38, sec. 426), which provides:

"The director, subject to the general direction of the President, shall administer, execute, and enforce the provisions of this Act, and for that purpose shall have full power and authority to make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, which are necessary or appropriate to carry out its purposes, and shall decide all questions arising under this Act; and all decisions of question of fact and law affecting any claimant to the benefits of Titles II, III, or IV of this Act shall be conclusive except as otherwise provided herein. All officers and employees of the bureau shall perform such duties as may be assigned them by the director. All official acts performed by such officers or employees specially designated therefor by the director shall have the same force and effect as though performed by the director in person. Wherever under any provision or provisions of the Act regulations are directed or authorized to be made, such regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, shall or may be made by the director. The director shall adopt reasonable and proper rules to govern the procedure of the divisions and to regulate and provide for the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence and the method of taking and furnishing the same in order to establish the right to benefits of compensation, insurance, vocational training, or maintenance and support allowance provided for in this Act, the forms of application of those claiming to be entitled to such benefits, the methods of mak

ing investigations and medical examinations, and the manner and form of adjudications and awards; Provided, That regulations relating to the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence shall provide that due regard shall be given to lay and other evidence not of a medical nature."

By another Act of July 3, 1930, c. 863, 46 Stat. 1016 (U. S. C., Supp. IV, Title 38, sec. 11), the so-called Consolidation Act, the President was authorized to create the Veterans' Administration, and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs was given all the powers and duties formerly conferred on the Director of the Veterans' Bureau. Consequently, the powers conferred by section 5 of the amendment of July 3, 1930, to the World War Veterans' Act, on the "Director "" are now vested in the "Administrator.”

The World War Veterans' Act specifically confers on the Administrator, subject to the general direction of the President, full power and authority to make rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act which are necessary or appropriate to carry out its purposes, and such regulations, if not inconsistent with the Act, have the force and effect of law and the courts take judicial notice of them. Union Bridge Co. v. United States, 204 U. S. 364; Caha v. United States, 152 U. S. 211; United States v. Eaton, 144 U. S. 677; Gratiot v. United States, 4 How. 80, 117.

Section 19 of the World War Veterans' Act, as amended by the Act of March 4, 1925, c. 553, 43 Stat. 1302 (U. S. C., Title 38, sec. 445, provides:

"In the event of disagreement as to claim under a contract of insurance between the Bureau and any person or persons claiming thereunder an action on the claim may be brought against the United States either in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia or in the District Court of the United States in and for the District in which such persons or any one of them resides, and jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon such courts to hear and determine all such controversies."

In the case of Edward Shields Cross v. United States, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, decided November, 1928, it appeared that the veteran's claim for insurance had been denied by a Claims and Rating Board of the Veterans' Bureau, and had not been

denied by the Director personally. The court held that a "disagreement" existed and a judgment was entered for the plaintiff. The Solicitor General declined to take an appeal.

Section 19 of the World War Veterans' Act was amended by the Act of July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. 993 (U. S. C., Supp. IV, Title 38, sec. 445), by adding the following provisions:

"The term 'claim' as used in this section, means any writing which alleges permanent and total disability at a time when the contract of insurance was in force, or which uses words showing an intention to claim insurance benefits and the term 'disagreement' means a denial of the claim by the director or someone acting in his name on an appeal to the director."

The definition of the term "disagreement" in this amendatory Act contains two provisions. A disagreement means a denial of the claim by the Administrator, and if a claim is denied by a lower board and an appeal is taken to the Administrator, a disagreement means the denial of the claim by the Administrator or someone acting in his name on an appeal to him. Under the first provision a disagreement is a denial of the claim by the Administrator, and the section does not specifically require personal action by him. Under section 5 of the World War Veterans' Act, as amended by the Act of July 3, 1930, supra, the Administrator has specific legislative authority to make rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of the Act, and to assign such duties to officers and employees of the Veterans' Administration as he deems proper, and all official acts performed by such officers or employees especially designated therefor by the Administrator shall have the same force and effect as though performed by the Administrator in person. Further, section 1 (b) of the Consolidation Act of July 3, 1930, provides:

"Under the direction of the President, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, shall have the power, by order or regulation, to consolidate, eliminate, or redistribute the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities in the Veterans' Administration and to create new ones therein, and, by rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, shall

fix the function thereof and the duties and powers of their respective executive heads."

Under the provisions of that section and the terms of section 5 of the World War Veterans' Act, supra, it is not obligatory on the Administrator to pass on a claim personally but by appropriate regulation he may delegate to a lawfully constituted board of responsible officials the power to effect a disagreement. Neither the Director nor the Administrator has ever acted in the first instance on a claim, but that has been done uniformly by boards or agencies within the Bureau .or Veterans' Administration. Furthermore, in the definition of disagreement in section 19, Congress showed it did not contemplate personal action by the Administrator on all claims by providing that where an appeal is taken by a claimant from an adverse ruling of a board or an official of the Veterans' Administration a disagreement may be effected by a denial of the claim by "someone acting in his [the Administrator's] name." Under the plain wording of the second clause of the definition of disagreement it clearly appears that the section does not require personal action by the Administrator.

In connection with the question relating to your power to delegate to the Solicitor of the Veterans' Administration authority to pass on cases in which appeals are taken to the Administrator, section 19 of the Act, as amended by the Act of July 3, 1930, contemplates the right of a claimant to a review of an adverse decision by an agency of the Veterans' Administration subordinate to you, by providing that the term "disagreement" means a denial of the claim by the Administrator or someone acting in his name on an appeal to the Administrator.

Section 2 of the Consolidation Act of July 3, 1930, pro.. vides that "final decisions or orders of any division, bureau, or board in the Veterans' Administration shall be subject to review, on appeal, by such Administrator," but that provision does not make it mandatory that a final decision of a board, bureau, or division of the Veterans' Administration must be reviewed by the Administrator personally, but only goes so far as to provide that such a decision or order shall be "subject to review, on appeal" by the Administrator, and under a proper regulation the Administrator could require

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