This morning the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a case appealed from the Court of Federal Claims. In the opinion, the Federal Circuit explains that it vacated the lower court’s decision granting judgment on the administrative record in favor of the government and remanded the case. Late yesterday and this morning, the Federal Circuit also released three nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. Here is an introduction to the opinion and links to the dismissals.
Doyon v. United States (Precedential)
Plaintiff-Appellant Robert Doyon petitioned the Board for the Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) to correct his military service records to state that he was discharged from the Navy for service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rather than a “personality disorder.” After the BCNR denied his petition, Doyon brought suit in the Court of Federal Claims (Claims Court), seeking disability retirement payment for service-connected PTSD pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 1201 and alleging that the BCNR failed to review his application with “liberal consideration.” The government moved for judgment on the administrative record, which the Claims Court granted. The court reasoned that the “liberal consideration” standard does not apply to the type of correction Mr. Doyon requested.
Because Mr. Doyon challenges the correctness of the narrative reason for his discharge, as stated in his military records, and because both 10 U.S.C. § 1552(h) and a Department of Defense memorandum (Kurta Memo) require liberal consideration for such correction requests, the Claims Court erred in holding that the liberal consideration standard does not apply to Mr. Doyon’s petition. Accordingly, we vacate the Claims Court’s decision granting judgment on the administrative record in favor of the government and remand with instructions to afford Mr. Doyon’s application liberal consideration.