Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released two nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. This morning, the court released one precedential opinion and one nonprecedential opinion. The precedential opinion comes in an appeal of a decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The nonprecedential opinion comes in a pro se appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the dismissals.
Janich v. Collins (Precedential)
Steven Janich was a veteran of the United States Army. In connection with a claim to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for disability compensation under 38 U.S.C. ch. 11 based on service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Mr. Janich sought to qualify as totally disabled based on individual unemployability (TDIU) under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16. VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) denied his claim for TDIU classification, determining that he was physically and mentally capable of doing certain types of jobs, and it provided three illustrative examples of such jobs. The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veterans Court) affirmed the Board’s denial. Janich v. McDonough, No. 22-5960, 2024 WL 1003543 (Vet. App. Mar. 8, 2024) (Decision).
Mr. Janich appealed to us, and after he died, his widow, Hoa Janich, was substituted for Mr. Janich as the appellant. We conclude that the Veterans Court may have committed legal error in one aspect of its opinion. We therefore vacate the Veterans Court’s decision and remand for further proceedings.
Symonette v. United States (Nonprecedential)
Mr. Symonette appeals a decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing his Complaint for failure to prosecute. Because the Court of Federal Claims did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Mr. Symonette’s Complaint, we affirm.