Court Opinion

ID: 4646017
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2020-12-23 16:00:50.725995+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:45:15.325768
License: Public Domain

Case: 19-2317    Document: 42     Page: 1   Filed: 12/23/2020

        NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                  ______________________

                 EUGENE COSTELLO,
                  Claimant-Appellant

                             v.

   ROBERT WILKIE, SECRETARY OF VETERANS
                   AFFAIRS,
              Respondent-Appellee
             ______________________

                        2019-2317
                  ______________________

     Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
 Veterans Claims in No. 18-3462, Judge Amanda L. Mere-
 dith.
                 ______________________

                Decided: December 23, 2020
                  ______________________

    KENNETH M. CARPENTER, Law Offices of Carpenter
 Chartered, Topeka, KS, argued for claimant-appellant.

     BORISLAV KUSHNIR, Commercial Litigation Branch,
 Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash-
 ington, DC, argued for respondent-appellee. Also repre-
 sented by JEFFREY B. CLARK, ELIZABETH MARIE HOSFORD,
 ROBERT EDWARD KIRSCHMAN, JR.; MARTIE ADELMAN, Y.
Case: 19-2317     Document: 42    Page: 2    Filed: 12/23/2020

 2                                        COSTELLO   v. WILKIE

 KEN LEE, Office of General Counsel, United States Depart-
 ment of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
                  ______________________

     Before WALLACH, TARANTO, and CHEN, Circuit Judges.
 WALLACH, Circuit Judge.
      Appellant, Eugene Costello, appeals a decision of the
 U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (“Veterans
 Court”) affirming a decision of the Board of Veterans’ Ap-
 peals that denied Mr. Costello’s request to revise a Decem-
 ber 1965 rating decision. Costello v. Wilkie, No. 18-3462,
 2019 WL 2261275, at *4 (Vet. App. May 28, 2019); see
 J.A. 16 (Judgment); see also J.A. 27 (1965 Rating Decision),
 86–104 (Board Decision). Mr. Costello failed to present to
 the Veterans Court the sole issue he now raises on appeal—
 namely, “[t]he correct interpretation of the phrase ‘recog-
 nized as symptomatic of brain trauma’” as used in Diagnos-
 tic Code 8045 of 38 C.F.R. § 4.124a (1965). Appellant’s
 Br. 11. Compare id. at 1, 3–11, with J.A. 105–16 (Mr. Cos-
 tello’s Brief to the Veterans Court). See In re DBC, 545
 F.3d 1373, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (“It is well-established
 that a party generally may not challenge an agency deci-
 sion on a basis that was not presented to the agency.”). Ac-
 cordingly, Mr. Costello’s appeal is
                       DISMISSED