Court Opinion

ID: 9909855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-14 16:01:13.241698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:04.651517
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-2291    Document: 11     Page: 1    Filed: 12/14/2023

           NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                  ______________________

                     WENDY KING,
                    Claimant-Appellant

                             v.

     DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans
                     Affairs,
               Respondent-Appellee
              ______________________

                        2023-2291
                  ______________________

     Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
 Veterans Claims in No. 21-6310, Judge Joseph L. Falvey,
 Jr.
                 ______________________

     Before PROST, HUGHES, and STOLL, Circuit Judges.
 PER CURIAM.
                         ORDER
     In response to this court’s September 20, 2023, show
 cause order, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs urges dis-
 missal of the appeal as untimely. Wendy King responds,
 urging the court not to dismiss because she “told the attor-
 ney [she] wanted to continue but he did not respond,” ECF
 No. 8 at 2.
Case: 23-2291     Document: 11      Page: 2    Filed: 12/14/2023

 2                                         KING v. MCDONOUGH

     The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans
 Claims entered judgment in this case on March 28, 2023.
 The Veterans Court received Ms. King’s notice of appeal
 115 days later on July 21, 2023.
      To be timely, a notice of appeal must be received by the
 Veterans Court within 60 days of the entry of judgment.
 See 38 U.S.C. § 7292(a); see also 28 U.S.C. § 2107(b); Fed.
 R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B); Fed. Cir. R. 1(a)(1)(D). Like appeals
 from district courts, the statutorily prescribed time for fil-
 ing appeals from the Veterans Court to this court is man-
 datory and jurisdictional, meaning that we cannot take
 account of individual circumstances for the untimely filing.
 See Wagner v. Shinseki, 733 F.3d 1343, 1348 (Fed. Cir.
 2013); see also Henderson v. Shinseki, 562 U.S. 428, 438–
 39 (2011) (indicating jurisdictional restrictions on the time
 for taking an appeal under section 7292(a)). Because Ms.
 King’s notice of appeal was not filed within 60 days of the
 final judgment of the Veterans Court, * we must dismiss the
 appeal.
     Accordingly,

     *     On June 30, 2023, Ms. King filed at the Veterans
 Court a motion for an extension of time, see ECF No. 9, but
 that court did not act on the extension motion, which was
 not filed within the time window in which such a motion
 could be granted. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A) (“The district
 court may extend the time to file a notice of appeal if . . . a
 party so moves no later than 30 days after the time pre-
 scribed by this Rule 4(a) expires.”); 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c); 38
 U.S.C. § 7292(a) (providing that appeals from the Veterans
 Court “shall be obtained by filing a notice of appeal . . .
 within the time and in the manner prescribed for appeal
 . . . from United States district courts”).
Case: 23-2291   Document: 11       Page: 3    Filed: 12/14/2023

 KING v. MCDONOUGH                                          3

    IT IS ORDERED THAT:
    (1) The appeal is dismissed.
    (2) Each side shall bear its own costs.
                                              FOR THE COURT

 December 14, 2023
      Date