Federico v. Wilkie, 122818 FEDFED, 2017-2564

• Docket Nº: 2017-2564
• Opinion Judge: PER CURIAM.
• Party Name: ROBERT L. FEDERICO, Claimant-Appellant v. ROBERT WILKIE, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Respondent-Appellee
• Attorney: Nathan S. Mammen, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Washington, DC, argued for claimant-appellant. Also represented by Hannah Lauren Bedard; Judy JoAnne Donegan, The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, Washington, DC; Edward Michael Farmer, The Law Offices of Edward M. Farmer, Aurora, IL; Richard Valentine...
• Judge Panel: Before Newman, Plager, and Moore, Circuit Judges.
• Case Date: December 28, 2018
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

ROBERT L. FEDERICO, Claimant-Appellant

v.

ROBERT WILKIE, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Respondent-Appellee

No. 2017-2564

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

December 28, 2018

This disposition is nonprecedential.

Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in No. 16-0507, Judge Coral Wong Pietsch, Judge William S. Greenberg, Senior Judge Kenneth B. Kramer.

Nathan S. Mammen, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Washington, DC, argued for claimant-appellant. Also represented by Hannah Lauren Bedard; Judy JoAnne Donegan, The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, Washington, DC; Edward Michael Farmer, The Law Offices of Edward M. Farmer, Aurora, IL; Richard Valentine Spataro, National Veterans Legal Services Program, Washington, DC.

Kristin McGrory, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, argued for respondent-appellee. Also represented by Claudia Burke, Robert Edward Kirschman, Jr., Joseph H. Hunt; Martie Adelman, Amanda Blackmon, Brian D. Griffin, Office of General Counsel, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.

Before Newman, Plager, and Moore, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This is a veterans case. Robert L. Federico (Federico) appeals the decision by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veterans Court), which affirmed the decision by the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board). The decision denies entitlement to service connection for ischemic heart disease. Because we lack jurisdiction, we dismiss.

Background

Federico served on active duty in the United States Air Force from September 1967 to September 1971. He was stationed at the Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) from July 1969 to August 1970. His military occupational specialty was munitions specialist, and he was assigned to the 456th Munitions Maintenance Squadron.

In December 2011, Federico filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for benefits for ischemic heart disease based on herbicide exposure. In August 2012, the VA denied Federico's claim because it could not verify herbicide exposure. Federico appealed to the Board. The VA continued its denial in a May 2013 statement of the case and in an August 2015 supplemental statement of the case. In November 2015, the Board held a hearing. In January 2016, the Board affirmed. Federico appealed to the Veterans Court. In May 2017, the Veterans Court affirmed. In July 2017, the Veterans Court granted Federico's motion for panel decision and ordered that the May 2017 decision remain the decision of the court. Federico now appeals to this court.

Discussion

Our jurisdiction to review Veterans Court decisions is limited by...