Dec. 9, 2022, 4:38 AM
The U.S. Navy properly denied a former helicopter crew chief’s application for benefits under the Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Program after he suffered injuries as a result of a helicopter crash during training, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. held. The court found that the Navy applied the correct standard of review—preponderance of the evidence—when it denied his application. Additionally, the Navy didn’t act arbitrarily and capriciously by affording more weight to contemporaneous medical records than to statements made long after the fact by medical professionals not responsible for his care, the court said.