Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. This morning, the Federal Circuit released two precedential opinions. One comes in a veterans case appealed from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the other comes in response to a petition to review a final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here are the introductions to the opinions as well as a link to the dismissal.
Gordon v. Collins (Precedential)
This case reemphasizes both our jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Here, Vaughn M. Gordon appeals the decision of the Veterans Court, which affirmed the Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision denying Mr. Gordon entitlement to an initial compensable disability rating for bilateral hearing loss. For the following reasons, we hold that our precedent in Wingard v. McDonald, 779 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2015), applies to Mr. Gordon’s appeal, and we accordingly dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
Harris-Campbell v. Department of the Treasury (Precedential)
Denise Harris-Campbell was an employee of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and she also served in her personal capacity as a trustee of a trust for her beneficiary goddaughter during her federal service. Various issues with Ms. Harris-Campbell’s tax returns and health insurance claims were uncovered, leading the IRS to terminate her employment following an investigation. Ms. Harris-Campbell appealed her termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board (“Board”), and Administrative Judge Daniel R. Fine issued an initial decision reversing the termination. The IRS timely petitioned for review of that reversal, and the Board then entered a final order reversing the initial decision and sustaining Ms. Harris-Campbell’s removal. Ms. Harris-Campbell seeks to reverse that final decision. We now affirm.