## Facts

- William C. Cromer served in the U.S. Army from September 1945 to May 1947.
- He sought VA service connection for dementia, asserting it resulted from a severe in-service illness during basic training in November 1945, including an alleged extremely high fever and brain infection.
- His service medical records were unavailable because they were likely destroyed in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire.
- Cromer submitted a physician statement linking his condition to service; VA also obtained alternative records (Army Surgeon General hospital extracts) showing brief 1945 hospitalizations for pharyngitis and a peritonsillar abscess, but not the alleged high fever or brain infection.
- VA and the Board denied service connection, relying on the lack of competent evidence of the claimed in-service disease or injury causing dementia and the long post-service interval before dementia onset.
- Cromer argued that because the government lost the service records while in its custody, evidentiary burdens should shift or a favorable presumption should apply.

## Issues

1. Whether destruction of a veteran’s service medical records while in government custody entitles the veteran to a presumption of service connection or shifts the burden to VA to disprove service connection.
2. Whether an adverse inference (spoliation presumption) should be applied against VA that the missing records would have favored the veteran.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the Board’s denial of service connection for dementia.
- The court held that missing service medical records do not create a special presumption of service connection and do not shift the burden of proof to VA.
- The court declined to apply a spoliation-based adverse inference against VA where the records were lost in the 1973 NPRC fire without a showing of bad faith or targeted destruction.
- The court recognized VA’s heightened duty to assist and to explain its findings when records are missing, and found that duty satisfied on this record.

## Legal Principles

- The claimant retains the burden to establish service connection under the governing statutory scheme; the benefit-of-the-doubt rule applies, but missing records do not alter the standard of proof.
- When service records are lost or destroyed while in government custody, VA has a heightened duty to assist in developing the claim and to provide careful reasons or bases, including consideration of the benefit-of-the-doubt rule.
- Spoliation or adverse-inference doctrines generally require culpable conduct (such as bad faith); accidental, large-scale destruction of records does not justify presuming missing records would support the claimant’s account.
- Absent a statutory or regulatory basis, courts will not create broad evidentiary presumptions that effectively rewrite the proof requirements for service connection.

## Conclusion

The court held that the loss of service medical records in the NPRC fire required heightened assistance and explanation by VA, but did not justify shifting the burden of proof or presuming the missing records would be favorable; because the evidence did not establish an in-service cause of dementia, the denial of service connection was affirmed.


Cromer v. Nicholson, 19 Vet. App. 215 (2005)