Opinions

This morning the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in a case brought under the Tucker Act, two nonprecedential opinions in appeals from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and a nonprecedential erratum. Here are the introductions.

McCord v. United States (Precedential)

Preston A. McCord (“McCord”) appeals from a decision of the Court of Federal Claims (“Claims Court”), which held that (1) the government properly calculated his entitlement to military retirement back pay; (2) the issue of government recoupment of his severance pay was not ripe; and (3) he failed to exhaust administrative remedies necessary to secure an award of out-of-pocket medical expenses. We affirm the Claims Court’s judgment except as to out-of-pocket medical expenses. On that issue, we reverse and remand for entry of judgment awarding the claimed costs.

Johnson v. Wilkie (Nonprecedential)

Eddie Johnson appeals from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims’ (“the Veterans Court’s”) denial of his petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) to award Johnson compensation based on alleged service-connected deafness. See Johnson v. Wilkie, No. 18-7440 (Vet. App. May 16, 2019) (“Decision”). Because Johnson raises only factual issues over which we lack jurisdiction, we dismiss the appeal.

Austin v. Wilkie (Nonprecedential)

Appellant Janice M. Austin appeals a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (“Veterans Court”), which affirmed the Board of Veterans’ Appeals’ (“Board”) denial of service-connected death benefits for her late husband, George Austin, who passed away due to esophageal cancer. Austin v. Wilkie, No. 18-531, 2019 WL 1436874, at *4 (Vet. App. Mar. 29, 2019). Because we lack jurisdiction, we dismiss.

Blodgett v. United States (Nonprecedential)

Please make the following changes: On page 2, line 17, remove “[SA 1, 5]”