Barney O. Padgett v. R. James Nicholson

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS

No. 02-2259

BARNEY O. PADGETT , APPELLANT ,

V.

R. JAMES NICHOLSON ,

SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, APPELLEE.

Before GREENE, Chief Judge, and IVERS, STEINBERG, KASOLD, and HAGEL, Judges.*

ORDER

On December 6, 2002, the appellant, through counsel, filed a Notice of Appeal from an

August 8, 2002, Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) decision in which the Board denied his claim

for VA disability compensation for service-connected osteoarthritis of the right hip on direct,

presumptive, and secondary bases. On April 19, 2005, in a full-Court opinion, the Court reversed

the Board's decision with regard to Mr. Padgett's secondary-service-connection right-hip disability

claim. In so doing, the Court concluded that "the only plausible resolution of the key factual issue

on the record in this case is that Mr. Padgett's right-hip disability was aggravated by his service-

connected left-knee disability." (emphasis added). The Court went on to set aside the Board

decision as to direct and presumptive service connection for the right-hip disability, and remanded

the entire matter for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. On April 21, 2005, the

appellant's counsel informed the Court of the appellant's death in November 2004. On May 19,

2005, the Secretary filed a motion to recall judgment and dismiss the appeal; that motion was later

opposed. On its own accord, the Court, on June 17, 2005, recalled judgment. On July 21, 2005, Mr.

Padgett's widow filed a motion for substitution or, in the alternative, intervention.

This Court adheres to the case-or-controversy jurisdictional restraints provided for in Article

III of the U.S. Constitution. See Mokal v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 12, 13-15 (1990). Consequently,

because claims for disability compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, U.S. Code, do not survive

a veteran, when a veteran dies while appealing a Board decision to the Court, there no longer remains

a case or controversy and the Court must dismiss the appeal. See Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet.App.

42 (1994); see also Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (expressly agreeing

with this Court's Landicho holding); Richard v. West, 161 F.3d 719, 721 (Fed. Cir. 1998). If, after

a veteran's death, the Court issues orders in which it enters its judgment on the veteran's appeal and

*

Judges Ivers and Steinberg participated in deciding this matter prior to their retirement. Judges Moorman,

Lance, Davis, and Schoelen, all of whom began regular active service on the Court after full-Court deliberations on this

matter, did not participate in consideration of the appeal. See Court's Internal Operating Procedures at V(b)(1)(C).

acts on an application for EAJA fees and those orders constitute the mandate of the Court, the Court

must recall those mandates and revoke those orders. See Kawad v. West, 12 Vet.App. 61, 62 (1998)

(per curiam order); Keel v. Brown, 9 Vet.App. 124, 126 (1996). In addition, the Court must vacate

the underlying Board decision to prevent it from acting as a barrier to the success of any claimant

seeking accrued benefits. See Yoma v. Brown, 8 Vet.App. 298, 299 (1995) (per curiam order)

(explaining that vacatur of Board decision causes vacatur of underlying regional office decision

because latter was subsumed by former). Here, Mr. Padgett died while appealing the August 8,

2002, Board decision to the Court. The Court will therefore vacate that Board decision and dismiss

the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

On consideration of the foregoing, it is

ORDERED that the Secretary's motion to dismiss is granted. The Court's April 19, 2005,

opinion is withdrawn. It is further

ORDERED that the August 8, 2002, Board decision is VACATED. It is further

ORDERED that this appeal is DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction. It is further

ORDERED that the motion for substitution or, in the alternative, intervention is denied as

moot.

DATED: September 7, 2005 PER CURIAM.

STEINBERG, Judge, dissenting: I would deny the Secretary's motion to dismiss and would

reenter judgment and issue mandate in due course. I see no good reason to disturb the important

precedents established by the Court's April 19, 2005, opinion or to deprive a potential accrued-benefits

claimant of the benefit of the Court's reversal of the Board of Veterans' Appeals decision denying an

award of service connection – that is, secondary service connection for the veteran's right-hip disability.

The vacatur of this Court's opinion and the dismissal of this appeal may adversely affect Mrs. Padgett,

who has submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under 38 U.S.C. § 5121(a) an accrued-

benefits claim. Based on this Court's reversal, Mrs. Padgett, if qualified as an accrued-benefits

claimant, would be entitled to accrued benefits because the merits of her claim would necessarily have

been decided by this Court's full-Court decision to award service connection. See Browder v. Brown,

5 Vet.App. 268, 270-71 (1993) (citing City of Cleveland v. Federal Power Commission, 561 F.2d 344,

346 (D.C. Cir. 1977) (noting that, under law-of-the-case doctrine, administrative agency "is without

power" to act in manner inconsistent with mandate of reviewing appellate court's decision in the case)).

Based on the action being taken by the Court in vacating that reversal, Mrs. Padgett will now be

required to have VA review the merits of her claim starting at the regional-office level.

As the author of both Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 42 (1994), and Zevalkink v. Brown,

6 Vet.App. 483 (1994) (en banc), aff’d, 102 F.3d 1236 (Fed. Cir. 1996), I believe it is time to reconsider

this Court's opinions in those cases in light of the circumstances of this case and in light of the Federal

Circuit's suggestion in affirming Zevalkink that this Court "could perhaps remand [to VA] the question

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of whether [the veteran's widow] qualifies as an accrued[-]benefits claimant". Zevalkink, 102 F.3d at

1244.

KASOLD, Judge, dissenting: For over 12 years, World War II veteran Barney O. Padgett

pursued his claim for service-connected disability compensation for his right-hip disability. His

claim was repeatedly rejected by the Secretary on the basis that his disability was not service

connected. The Court, on July 9, 2004, initially affirmed the Board's finding on this matter, but

subsequently, sitting en banc, withdrew its previous opinion and reversed the Board's finding.

Subsequent to issuing the Court's en banc opinion, counsel for Mr. Padgett learned that his

client had died several months earlier, and he so informed the Court. The Secretary moved to have

the en banc opinion withdrawn. Mr. Padgett's surviving widow, Sue Padgett, opposed this action

and sought, inter alia, permission to be substituted for her deceased husband.

Succinctly stated, Mrs. Padgett opposes withdrawal of the Court's en banc opinion and seeks

substitution because her claim for accrued benefits is directly derivative of her husband's claim. She

is entitled to any accrued benefits arising from her husband's right-hip disability if, and only if, that

disability is found to be service connected. Withdrawal of the Court's en banc opinion and vacatur

of the Board decision will require Mrs. Padgett to undertake the time-consuming burden of trying

to establish that her husband's right-hip disability was service connected, and do so before the very

agency that repeatedly, for over 12 years, denied that his disability was service connected.

My concerns with the Court's action today are fivefold. First, the Court's order perfunctorily

dismisses the appeal of Mr. Padgett for lack of jurisdiction and declares Mrs. Padgett's request for

substitution to be moot, without any discussion of the basis for her request. Mrs. Padgett notes that

the opinion being withdrawn today is the first one involving an en banc opinion of the Court that has

reversed a Board decision below. She further notes that the law with regard to accrued benefits has

changed and no longer limits survivors to two years' worth of accrued benefits, see Pub. L. 108-183,

§ 104(a) & (d), 117 Stat. 2651, 2656 (eliminating two-year ceiling on payment of accrued benefits

where, as here, the veteran died on or after December 16, 2003), thus calling into question the

concerns raised by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that a successful accrued-

benefits beneficiary might be awarded a higher amount of benefits if substituted for the veteran

rather than proceeding with a separate claim for accrued benefits. See Richard v. West, 161 F.3d

719, 722-23 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (citing 38 U.S.C. § 5121 (West. Supp. 1998) (limiting survivors to a

maximum of two years of the veteran's due but unpaid benefits)).

Counsel for Mrs. Padgett further notes that a reversal of the Board decision avoids the

preclusive effect of a negative Board decision, a factor underpinning many of the Court's previous

decisions and, indeed, the order issued today. Counsel also notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has

held that "[j]udicial precedents are presumptively correct and valuable to the legal community as a

whole. They are not merely the property of private litigants and should stand unless a court

concludes that the public interest would be served by a vacatur." U.S. Bancorp Mortgage Co. v.

Bonner Mall P'ship, 513 U.S. 18, 26 (1994) ((citation omitted)); see also Morton v. Gober,

14 Vet.App. 174, 175 (2000) (citing public interest as a factor when considering whether to vacate

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a judgment). And, counsel notes that the Court was established under Article I of the U.S.

Constitution and is only bound by the case-or-controversy requirement as a prudential matter and

not as a constitutional jurisdictional matter.1 See Mokal v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 12, 15 (1990).

I believe these arguments deserve more than a perfunctory dismissal.

A second concern with today's order is that the majority's reliance on Landicho v. Brown,

7 Vet.App. 42 (1994), for the proposition that "claims for disability compensation under chapter 11

of title 38, U.S. Code, do not survive a veteran," is too broadly stated. The Federal Circuit, in cases

rendered subsequent to Landicho, has stated that "after a veteran's death, the claim is no longer one

for disability compensation but rather one for accrued benefits," see Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d

1236, 1244 (Fed. Cir. 1996), and that the "accrued benefits provision thus creates a narrowly limited

exception to the general rule that a veteran's claim for benefits does not survive the veteran," see

Haines v. West, 154 F.3d 1298, 1300 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (citing Zevalkink, supra). Moreover, the

Federal Circuit specifically noted the possibility that our Court could remand the matter for

certification of a party seeking substitution as an accrued-benefits beneficiary under statute. See

Zevalkink, 102 F.3d at 1244; see also 38 U.S.C. § 5121(a) (authorizing payment to certain

individuals, including a veteran's spouse, of benefits that are "due and unpaid" at the time of the

veteran's death); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000(a) (2004) (same).

A third concern, closely related to my second concern, is the fact that the Court has never

addressed the Federal Circuit's recognition of an accrued-benefits claim as an exception to the rule

that a veteran's claim dies with him, see Haines, supra, or the possibility of the Court establishing

a procedure permitting substitution of a party once that person has been certified as a statutory

accrued-benefits beneficiary, see Zevalkink, supra. Before withdrawing an en banc opinion reversing

a Board decision, and thereby placing into question a beneficiary's right to accrued benefits, we

should address the decisions of the Federal Circuit suggesting such action is not mandatory.

My fourth concern is that today's order is presented as an order of the Court sitting en banc,

and is therefore appropriate in its action withdrawing the en banc opinion rendered in the underlying

merits case. However, the underlying merits case was submitted for decision before the appointment

1

I separately note that the Court issued the underlying merits case in the normal course of its business, without

knowledge of Mr. Padgett's November 2004 death, which occurred subsequent to the September 14, 2004, submission

of the matter for decision to the en banc Court and in the absence of any indication that either of the parties withheld

knowledge of the death of M r. Padgett. In a similar situation, the U.S. Supreme Court found it appropriate to issue its

opinion, nunc pro tunc, to pre-date the death of the interested party and retain the decision. See Harris v. Commissioner,

340 U.S. 106, 112-13 (1950) (reversing court of appeals judgment regarding property-settlement agreement's effect on

gift-tax liability of petitioner and, because petitioner had died since case was submitted to Supreme Court, entering

judgment on date of her death "in pursuance of the practice obtaining in those circumstances" and citing for that practice

Mitchell v. Overman, 103 U.S. 62, 64-65, 13 Otto 62, 64-65 (1880) (allowing state court opinion to stand even though

party had died four years before it was issued, when case had been submitted to state court for decision before appellant's

death and laches of parties did not enter into timing of decision)); see also Morton v. Gober, 14 Vet.App. 174, 174-75

(2000) (citing fault, or lack thereof, attributable to an appellant as a factor when considering whether to vacate a

judgment).

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of four judges currently sitting and therefore, pursuant to section V(b)(1)(C) of the Court's Internal

Operating Procedures (IOP), the appeal remained before the en banc panel of five judges to which

the matter had been presented. In contrast, the request of the Secretary to have that en banc opinion

withdrawn is an issue presented to the Court when nine judges were sitting, rendering questionable

the applicability of IOP V(b)(1)(C) and the designation of today's order as an en banc order. This,

in turn, renders questionable the appropriateness of a non-en banc panel of five judges withdrawing

an opinion of a properly designated en banc panel of five judges.

My fifth concern, which is related to my fourth concern and the propriety of less-than-en banc

panel withdrawing an en banc opinion, is that the order issued today is being issued many days after

two of the panel members have retired from the Court, and its issuance cannot be considered a

merely ministerial matter. Their retirement came before either Judge had the opportunity to review

all of the filings in this matter.2 The retirements also came before the writing period had passed,

necessarily precluding the Judges' participation in the discussions undertaken during the writing

process or their consideration of any separate opinions filed in this matter.3 Although I do not

dispute the representation of the positions of the two retired Judges as of the date they retired, I do

question the Court's reliance on those positions to issue an order, under the circumstances noted

above, to withdraw an en banc opinion.

For the foregoing reasons, I would submit Mrs. Padgett's request for substitution to the full-

Court, address her arguments, and consider her request for substitution in light of the Federal Circuit

cases noted above. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

2

On August 4, 2005, the Court accepted for filing, pursuant to Rule 27(b) of the Court's Rules of Practice and

Procedure, the Secretary's timely opposition to M rs. Padgett's motion for substitution. The opposition was forwarded

for consideration by the original five-judge en banc panel on August 8, after Chief Judge Ivers and his successor Chief

Judge Steinberg had retired.

3

I note the contrast between a newly appointed judge stating a position in a matter prior to and upon issuance

of a decision and a Judge who states a position but then retires before issuance of the decision. A newly appointed Judge

has the opportunity to review all pleadings, consider all separate opinions and discussion during the writing process,

change his or her mind as the process proceeds, and review his or her position up to issuance of the decision. As noted

in the text, a Judge who retires before a decision is issued, particularly when retirement occurs before all pleadings

ultimately filed in the case have been filed and when such retirement occurs during the writing period and many days

before issuance of a decision, never has the opportunity to review all the pleadings filed in the matter and never has the

opportunity to consider any separate opinions or discussion that ensues after retirement.

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