This morning the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in a veterans case, reversing a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The court also issued a nonprecedential opinion dismissing an appeal in another case appealed from the same court. Here are the introductions to the opinions.
Ortiz v. McDonough (Precedential)
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded veteran Geraldo Ortiz benefits for a service-connected disability based on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acting pursuant to a regulatory change that lightened his previous evidentiary burden. The dispute before us concerns the starting date for the benefits awarded, i.e., the effective date of the award. We conclude that the regulatory change that enabled Mr. Ortiz to obtain the benefits was a “liberalizing” one, entitling Mr. Ortiz to the earlier effective date, and hence the larger award, that he seeks.
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For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the decision of the Veterans Court.
Payne v. McDonough (Nonprecedential)
Marcus Sebastian Payne appeals an order of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims dismissing Mr. Payne’s petition for a writ of mandamus as moot. S.A. 2–4. Because we lack jurisdiction over this appeal, we dismiss.