Barbara Goodard v. DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans Af- fairs

N OTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
BARBARA GOODARD,
Claimant-Appellant
v.
DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs,
Respondent-Appellee
______________________
2024-1559
______________________
Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims in No. 23-3478, Judge William S. Green-
berg.
______________________
Before P ROST , T ARANTO, and HUGHES , Circuit Judges.
P ER CURIAM .
O R D E R
In response to the court’s April 24, 2024 show cause or-
der, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs urges dismissal of
the appeal as untimely. Barbara Goodard also responds,
arguing that her appeal is timely, and submits her infor-
mal opening brief.
On November 17, 2023, the United States Court of Ap-
peals for Veterans Claims issued its decision dismissing
Case: 24-1559 Document: 9 Page: 1 Filed: 07/23/2024

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GOODARD v. MCDONOUGH 2
Ms. Goodard’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction, concluding
that the Board of Veterans’ Appeals had not yet issued a
final decision. The court entered judgment on December
11, 2023. On February 12, 2024, Ms. Goodard filed what
the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims deemed a motion
for reconsideration. Five days later, on February 17, 2024,
she filed a notice of appeal seeking this court’s review of
“the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision
dated November 17, 2023.” ECF No. 1-2 at 1. On February
27, 2024, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims denied
Ms. Goodard’s motion for reconsideration.
This court lacks jurisdiction to hear Ms. Goodard’s ap-
peal from the judgment of the Court of Appeals for Veter-
ans Claims because her appeal from that judgment was
untimely. Like appeals from district courts, the statutorily
prescribed time for filing appeals from the Court of Appeals
for Veterans Claims is jurisdictional, meaning that we may
not excuse an untimely appeal. See Wagner v. Shinseki,
733 F.3d 1343, 1348 (Fed. Cir. 2013); see also Henderson v.
Shinseki, 562 U.S. 428, 438–39 (2011) (“Because the time
for taking an appeal from a district court to a court of ap-
peals in a civil case has long been understood to be juris-
dictional, th[e] language [of 38 U.S.C. § 7292(a)] clearly
signals an intent to impose the same restrictions on ap-
peals from the [Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims] to
the Federal Circuit.” (citation omitted)). To be timely, a
notice of appeal must be filed “within the time and in the
manner prescribed for appeal” from a district court to a
court of appeals, which, as relevant here, is 60 days after
the judgment. § 7292(a); see 28 U.S.C. § 2107(b); Fed. R.
App. P. 4(a)(1)(B); Fed. Cir. R. 1(a)(1)(D). Ms. Goodard filed
her appeal outside this jurisdictional deadline.
Ms. Goodard’s motion for reconsideration at the Court
of Appeals for Veterans Claims did not act to toll the time
to file an appeal from the underlying final judgment. Un-
der the Rules of that court, a motion for reconsideration
“shall be filed not later than 21 days . . . after the date of
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GOODARD v. MCDONOUGH 3
the dispositive action for which reconsideration, panel re-
view, or full Court review is sought.” Rule 35(d) of the
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims’s Rules of Practice
and Procedure. Ms. Goodard filed her motion 87 days after
the date of the decision and after judgment had already
been issued. That was too late. See Nastor v. Nicholson,
153 F. App’x 735 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (noting “motion for recon-
sideration was untimely under the Court of Veterans Ap-
peals’ rules and did not toll the time for filing an appeal”).
If Ms. Goodard receives an unsatisfactory decision from
the Board on remand, she may seek review first at the
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and may pursue fur-
ther review in this court if she is unsatisfied with that
court’s decision by filing a timely appeal.
Accordingly,
I T I S O RDERED T HAT :
(1) The appeal is dismissed.
(2) Each side shall bear its own costs.
July 23, 2024
Date
F OR THE COURT
Case: 24-1559 Document: 9 Page: 3 Filed: 07/23/2024

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