Court Opinion

ID: 9494861
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:48:38.071786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:40.086431
License: Public Domain

RADER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
To be eligible to receive attorney fees, Mr. Stanley must meet all the criteria set forth in 35 U.S.C. § 5904(c) and 38 C.F.R. § 20 .609. These provisions require that the Board of Veterans’ Appeals “first makes a final decision in the case.” 35 U.S.C. § 5904(c)(1). This case asks whether the March 1996 Board remand to the regional office constitutes a final decision under 35 U.S.C. § 5904(c)(1) and thus entitles Mr. Stanley to attorney fees. In simple terms, is a remand a final decision?
The applicable regulation, 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b), states: “A remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a final decision of the board.” Furthermore, the Court of Veterans Appeals has consistently held that a remand by the Board to the regional office is not a final decision of the Board. Anglin v. West, 11 Vet.App. 361, 363 (1998); In re Fee Arrangement of Stanley, 9 Vet.App. 203, 206-07 (1996). Thus, in this case, the Court of Veterans Appeals correctly found that the March 1996 Board remand to the regional office to reopen Mr. Thurman’s claim does not constitute a final decision of *1360the Board. Without a final decision as required by 35 U.S.C. § 5904(c), Mr. Stanley cannot yet receive attorney fees for his representation of Mr. Thurman. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims so held. On very strained reasoning, this court reverses.
This court twists the statutory language “a fee may not be charged ... before the date on which the Board of Veterans’ Appeals first makes a final decision” to require a “first ... final decision” and perhaps later other “final decisions.” Thus, this court reasons that the remand was a “first final decision.” Far from breaking the concept of finality into layers, Title 38 simply requires a final decision before an attorney fee award. Period. No ambiguity here. As noted above, even the regulation clarifies that a remand is not a fictitious “first final decision” to be followed presumably by a second, third, or fourth “final” decision — with, I presume, fee proceedings after each “final” decision.
Because a decision is only final once as the statute requires, and because the regulation specifies that a remand is not a final decision, I must respectfully dissent.