Opinion ID: 2795303
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Majority Constrains Equitable Tolling

Text: To A Closed Set Of Factual Patterns This court has rejected the “suggestion that equitable tolling is limited to a small and closed set of factual patterns and that equitable tolling is precluded if a veteran’s case does not fall within those patterns.” Mapu v. Nicholson, 397 F.3d 1375, 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2005). We have highlighted the need to be flexible in our inquiry, and to analyze each case individually. Sneed, 737 F.3d at 726 (quoting Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S. 631, 649-50 (2010)). The majority suggests it remains mindful not to limit equitable tolling to a small, closed set of factual patterns, Maj. Op. at 17, but by declining to apply analogous precedent, it does just that. In Bailey v. West, we held that equitable tolling is appropriate when a veteran’s untimely filing results from 6 TOOMER v. MCDONALD the government’s own misleading statements. 160 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 1998). A Veterans Benefits Counselor at the regional office (“RO”) misrepresented to the veteran that timely filing a notice of appeal at the RO was sufficient to initiate the veteran’s appeal. Id. at 1361. Relying on the government’s statement, the veteran timely filed a notice of appeal at the RO, though that notice was not forwarded to the Veterans Court within the filing period. The VA notified the veteran that timely filing a notice of appeal at the RO does not protect his right of appeal. Id. at 1362. The veteran then filed an untimely notice of appeal with the Veterans Court. The Veterans Court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction on account of the untimely filing of the notice of appeal. Id. The veteran in Bailey appealed the dismissal to this court. In analyzing whether equitable tolling applied, we explained that the veteran “was misled by the conduct of his adversary [the government] into allowing the filing deadline to pass” even though there was “no suggestion of misconduct” by the government. Id. at 1365. We concluded that the government’s misleading statements that caused the veteran to miss the filing deadline were sufficient to equitably toll the deadline, even absent evidence of any intent to mislead. Id. Just as in Bailey, the government’s misleading statements in this case, made without intent to mislead, are sufficient to justify equitably tolling the 120-day filing period. Mr. Toomer asserts that he relied on the machinestamped date on the cover letter because he believed the cover letter was part of the decision itself. His belief is not unreasonable given that the cover letter and the decision came in a packet together, and that the date on the cover letter bears an official appearance while the handwritten date does not. Using either date from which to calculate the filing deadline is reasonable in this case. The instructions in the notice of appellate rights could easily mislead Mr. Toomer to believe his filing period TOOMER v. MCDONALD 7 ended later than it actually did. While there is no evidence of intent by the government to mislead Mr. Toomer, the official, confusing instructions in the notice of appellate rights did exactly that. As a result, Mr. Toomer filed his notice of appeal 85 days after he received the copy of the Board’s decision. His filing occurred inside the 120day period beginning on the date the copy was mailed, but outside the 120-day window beginning on the date of the supposed first mailing. By refusing to apply equitable tolling on the facts of Mr. Toomer’s case, the majority narrowly circumscribes Bailey, limiting that decision’s reach to only affirmative misstatements by the government. Bailey teaches that misleading statements by the government support equitably tolling the period for appealing to the Veterans Court, even absent intent by the government to mislead the veteran. In any event, I believe that an application of the flexible, case-by-case analysis espoused, but not utilized, by the majority leads to the conclusion that the filing deadline should have been equitably tolled. D. This Decision Will Produce Undesirable Results Finally, the majority’s refusal to apply equitable tolling here will lead to absurd results in other cases. Suppose the initial mailing of the Board’s decision never arrives and the veteran contacts the VA after the 120-day filing period elapses. Even if the veteran filed an appeal on the day the Board’s decision was received, a mechanical application of 38 U.S.C. § 7266(a) would lead to a dismissal of that appeal. Under the majority’s opinion, equitable tolling would not apply because even in this scenario, the veteran would not be able to show exceptional circumstances. In short, the veteran would be left with no recourse at all. This cannot be the appropriate result given the remedial nature of veterans law. The government’s misleading communications and the lapsing of more than half the filing period before the 8 TOOMER v. MCDONALD veteran received the Board’s decision clearly illustrate the existence of extraordinary circumstances in this case. Because the majority declines to equitably toll the filing statute, I respectfully dissent.