Opinion ID: 4705685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: (i) In view of precedents such as OPM

Text: v. Richmond, 496 U.S. 414 (1990), and McCay v. Brown, 106 F.3d 1577 (Fed. Cir. 1997), did the panel in Taylor v. McDonough, No. 2019-2211, 2021 WL 2672307, at  (Fed. Cir. June 30, 2021), correctly determine that Case: 19-2211 Document: 37 Page: 3 Filed: 07/22/2021 TAYLOR v. MCDONOUGH 3 under the doctrine of equitable estoppel the government is estopped from asserting 38 U.S.C. § 5110(a)(1) against Mr. Taylor’s claim for an earlier effective date? (ii) Specifically, would granting Mr. Taylor’s claim of entitlement to an earlier effective date under the doctrine of equitable estoppel be contrary to statutory appropriations and thus barred by the Appropriations Clause? If not, does the doctrine require the VA to give Mr. Taylor his requested effective date for his disability benefits if the government pre- vented him from timely filing an adequate benefits claim? (iii) If any precedents of this court, such as McCay, preclude Mr. Taylor from succeeding based on equitable estoppel, should they be overruled?