Court Opinion

ID: 9502657
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 18:53:48.395482+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:00:42.199273
License: Public Domain

HAGEL, Judge,
concurring in the result, dissenting in part:
I continue to concur in the majority’s ultimate conclusion that the Court cannot review the September 1998 Board decision because no Notice of Appeal was filed within 120 days of that decision. I also concur in the majority’s new analysis regarding the applicability of equitable tolling. However, I again write separately to reiterate my belief, first stated in my separate statement to the October 2009 decision, that our inability to review the September 1998 Board decision stems from the fact that a claim for benefits for a chronic lung disorder is a separate and distinct claim for VA compensation purposes from a claim for benefits for Persian Gulf Syndrome under 38 U.S.C. § 1117. I need not restate the entirety of my earlier separate statement here; suffice it to say that my position is unchanged.