Court Opinion

ID: 9382606
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-28 14:00:55.130176+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:40.362686
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-2231   Document: 19     Page: 1   Filed: 03/28/2023

           NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                 ______________________

                 TAFOYA L. SUTTON,
                     Petitioner

                            v.

      MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD,
                    Respondent
              ______________________

                       2022-2231
                 ______________________

    Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection
 Board in No. DC-0841-22-0513-I-1.
                 ______________________

                     ON MOTION
                 ______________________

   Before LOURIE, PROST, and WALLACH, Circuit Judges.
 PER CURIAM.
                       ORDER
     In response to the court’s January 25, 2023, order to
 show cause, the Merit Systems Protection Board urges dis-
 missal of this petition as premature. Tafoya L. Sutton
 moves for leave to proceed in forma pauperis but has not
 responded to the order to show cause.
Case: 22-2231     Document: 19      Page: 2    Filed: 03/28/2023

 2                                              SUTTON   v. MSPB

      Mr. Sutton appealed to the Board challenging the Of-
 fice of Personnel Management’s calculation of a deposit for
 obtaining credit for his military service. On August 19,
 2022, the administrative judge issued an initial decision
 dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Mr. Sutton
 has filed a timely petition seeking review of that decision
 at the Board, which remains pending. He has also filed a
 petition seeking judicial review of the decision here. 1
     This court does not yet have authority to decide this
 case. Although this court has jurisdiction to review a final
 decision of the Board, see 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9); 5 U.S.C.
 § 7703(b)(1)(A), Mr. Sutton’s timely filing at the Board of a
 petition for review of the initial decision renders the initial
 decision non-final for purposes of our review. See 5 C.F.R.
 § 1201.113(a) (“The initial decision will not become the
 Board’s final decision if within the time limit for fil-
 ing . . . any party files a petition for review . . . .”).
     Two potential paths to this court’s review are available.
 First, Mr. Sutton may receive a final determination from
 the full Board on his petition for Board review, at which
 point Mr. Sutton may seek this court’s review by filing a
 timely petition for court review. Alternatively, Mr. Sutton
 may file a motion at the Board to withdraw his petition
 pursuant to the June 2022 policy specified on the Board’s

     1    Because Mr. Sutton suggested he raised a discrim-
 ination claim before the Board, this court directed the par-
 ties to address whether this is a mixed case that should be
 brought in a United States district court rather than this
 court. See 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(2); see Perry v. Merit Sys.
 Prot. Bd., 137 S. Ct. 1975, 1985 (2017); Ash v. OPM, 25
 F.4th 1009, 1011 (Fed. Cir. 2022). The Board responds
 without contradiction that Mr. Sutton did not raise a dis-
 crimination claim before the Board.
Case: 22-2231       Document: 19   Page: 3   Filed: 03/28/2023

 SUTTON   v. MSPB                                          3

 website. 2 Under that policy, the Clerk of the Board may
 grant requests to withdraw a petition for review when
 there is no apparent issue of untimeliness of the petition
 and no other party objects to the withdrawal. When the
 Clerk grants a request to withdraw, the order granting the
 request will be the final order of the Board for purposes of
 obtaining judicial review.
    Accordingly,
    IT IS ORDERED THAT:
    (1) The petition is dismissed as premature.
     (2) The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis
 is denied as moot.
                                    FOR THE COURT

 March 28, 2023                     /s/ Peter R. Marksteiner
     Date                           Peter R. Marksteiner
                                    Clerk of Court

    2     Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., Policy Regarding Clerk’s Au-
 thority to Grant Requests to Withdraw Petitions for Re-
 view (2022),
 https://www.mspb.gov/appeals/files/Policy_Regard-
 ing_Withdrawal_of_a_Petition_for_Review_1515773.pdf
 (last visited March 15, 2023).