Court Opinion

ID: 9940445
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-14 16:02:07.77039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:44:54.245571
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-2283    Document: 10     Page: 1   Filed: 02/14/2024

        NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                  ______________________

                 NELSON ORTIZ SOTO,
                   Claimant-Appellant

                             v.

       DENIS MCDONOUGH, SECRETARY OF
              VETERANS AFFAIRS,
               Respondent-Appellee
              ______________________

                        2023-2283
                  ______________________

     Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
 Veterans Claims in No. 22-4767, Judge Joseph L. Falvey,
 Jr.
                 ______________________

                Decided: February 14, 2024
                 ______________________

    NELSON ORTIZ SOTO, Barranquitas, PR, pro se.

     MATTHEW JUDE CARHART, Commercial Litigation
 Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Jus-
 tice, Washington, DC, for respondent-appellee. Also repre-
 sented by BRIAN M. BOYNTON, ELIZABETH M. HOSFORD,
 PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY.
                 ______________________
Case: 23-2283     Document: 10    Page: 2   Filed: 02/14/2024

 2                                      SOTO v. MCDONOUGH

     Before MOORE, Chief Judge, STOLL, Circuit Judge, and
                BENCIVENGO, District Judge. *
 PER CURIAM.
     Nelson Ortiz Soto appeals a decision of the United
 States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veterans
 Court) dismissing his appeal for lack of jurisdiction. For
 the following reasons, we affirm.
                        BACKGROUND
      Mr. Soto served in the Army from 1979 to 1981. S.
 Appx. 2. 1 In 1999, the Veterans Affairs Regional Office
 (RO) granted Mr. Soto a 0% disability rating for a shoulder
 injury. S. Appx. 211. In 2011, after Mr. Soto requested an
 increased rating for his shoulder injury, the RO increased
 the rating to 10%. S. Appx. 175. Mr. Soto submitted a No-
 tice of Disagreement, and the RO issued a Statement of the
 Case confirming the 10% rating. S. Appx. 164. In Decem-
 ber 2013, Mr. Soto appealed to the Board of Veterans’ Ap-
 peals (Board).
     The Board remanded Mr. Soto’s claim twice for addi-
 tional examinations. S. Appx. 61; S. Appx. 116–19. Based
 on results of these examinations, the RO issued a Supple-
 mental Statement of the Case (SSOC) regarding Mr. Soto’s
 shoulder injury rating, S. Appx. 23–38, before returning
 the appeal to the Board. Mr. Soto submitted an Appeals
 Satisfaction Notice stating he wished to withdraw all re-
 maining issues contained in his recent SSOC. S. Appx. 18.
 In June 2022, the Board notified Mr. Soto that, as a result

      *  Honorable Cathy A. Bencivengo, District Judge,
 United States District Court for the Southern District of
 California, sitting by designation.

      1  “S. Appx.” refers to the Supplemental Appendix at-
 tached to Respondent’s Informal Brief.
Case: 23-2283    Document: 10      Page: 3    Filed: 02/14/2024

 SOTO v. MCDONOUGH                                          3

 of his Appeals Satisfaction Notice, his claims regarding his
 shoulder injury had been withdrawn. S. Appx. 12–14.
     Mr. Soto appealed to the Veterans Court. The Veter-
 ans Court dismissed Mr. Soto’s claim for lack of jurisdiction
 because his arguments did not relate to a decision of the
 Board. S. Appx. 2–6. Mr. Soto appeals.
                         DISCUSSION
     We have jurisdiction to review “the validity of a deci-
 sion of the [Veterans] Court on a rule of law or of any stat-
 ute or regulation . . . or any interpretation thereof (other
 than a determination as to a factual matter) that was relied
 on by the [Veterans] Court in making the decision.” 38
 U.S.C. § 7292(a). Whether the Veterans Court lacks juris-
 diction is an issue of statutory construction, see 38 U.S.C.
 § 7252, which we review de novo. Howard v. Gober, 220
 F.3d 1341, 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2000). The Veterans Court has
 jurisdiction to review “decisions” of the Board. 38 U.S.C.
 § 7252(a). If the Board has not rendered a decision on a
 claim, that claim is outside of the Veterans Court’s juris-
 diction. Ledford v. West, 136 F.3d 776, 779 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
      The Veterans Court dismissed Mr. Soto’s appeal be-
 cause his arguments were unrelated to the Board’s June
 2022 order. S. Appx. 2–6. The Veterans Court explained
 that Mr. Soto’s arguments related to issues concerning ar-
 thritis and special monthly compensation (SMC), a type of
 disability compensation. S. Appx. 5. There is no Board de-
 cision of record regarding Mr. Soto’s arthritis or SMC eligi-
 bility. Because the appealed order related only to the
 withdrawal of shoulder injury claims, S. Appx. 12–14,
 which Mr. Soto did not address in his arguments, the Vet-
 erans Court’s dismissal was proper.
     Mr. Soto requests we order the Department of Veterans
 Affairs (VA) and the Board to produce documents contain-
 ing information about Mr. Soto’s disability ratings. Appel-
 lant’s Informal Br. 1–2. He also continues to claim
Case: 23-2283    Document: 10       Page: 4   Filed: 02/14/2024

 4                                        SOTO v. MCDONOUGH

 eligibility for a “special increase benefit” under 38 C.F.R.
 § 1114, which provides SMC to extraordinarily disabled
 veterans. Id. at 2–3. We lack jurisdiction to address the
 merits of these issues which were not decided by either the
 Board or the Veterans Court.
     Though this is not the proper forum for the arguments
 asserted by Mr. Soto, he is not without recourse. Mr. Soto
 may bring a claim before the RO seeking SMC. 2 If he files
 a claim for SMC, the VA’s duty to “make reasonable efforts”
 to assist Mr. Soto “in obtaining evidence necessary to sub-
 stantiate [his] claim” will be triggered. See 38 U.S.C.
 § 5103A(a)(1). This would address Mr. Soto’s request for
 help obtaining documents relevant to his potential claims.
 If he wishes to obtain his claims file before filing a claim,
 he can do so by submitting Form 3288 to the VA. 3
                        CONCLUSION
    We affirm the Veterans Court’s dismissal of Mr. Soto’s
 appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
                        AFFIRMED
                            COSTS
 No costs.

     2   Instructions for bringing a claim for SMC are lo-
 cated at https://www.va.gov/disability/how-to-file-claim/.

     3  Form 3288 is available at https://www.va.gov/find-
 forms/about-form-3288.