Opinion ID: 2738475
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Subject Matter Jurisdiction under the VJRA

Text: On appeal, Milbauer, pro se, argues the district judge erred by finding the delay in his diagnosis was a benefits issue barred by the VJRA. He contends his benefits were not in question; rather, his claim involved the delay of a medical diagnosis due to medical professionals’ deviation from the standard of care. The VJRA provides the decision of the Secretary as to any “questions of law and fact necessary to a decision by the Secretary under a law that affects the provision of benefits . . . shall be final and conclusive and may not be reviewed by any other official or by any court, whether by an action in the nature of mandamus or otherwise.” 38 U.S.C. § 511(a) (emphasis added). The term “benefit” means “any payment, service, commodity, function, or status, entitlement to which is determined under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs pertaining to veterans and their dependents and survivors.” 38 C.F.R. § 20.3(e). 6 Case: 13-14454 Date Filed: 09/30/2014 Page: 7 of 13 The VJRA does not completely eliminate judicial review of benefits decisions. Rather, determinations of the Secretary may be appealed to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (“Board”), whose ruling becomes the final decision of the Secretary. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a). Decisions of the Board may then be reviewed exclusively by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, an Article I court established by the VJRA. Id. §§ 7251, 7252(a), 7266(a). Decisions of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims are in turn appealable only to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Id. § 7292(a), (c). The judgment of the Federal Circuit is then subject to review by the Supreme Court by writ of certiorari. Id. § 7292(c). Accordingly, pursuant to the VJRA, “judicial review of a particular application of the law made by the Secretary with respect to a veteran’s entitlement to benefits may be had only by appealing to the Board, then to the Court of Veterans Appeals, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.” Hall v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 85 F.3d 532, 534 (11th Cir. 1996)