Charlie L. Buckner v. DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans Af- fairs

N OTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
CHARLIE L. BUCKNER,
Claimant-Appellant
v.
DENIS MCDONOUGH, Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs,
Respondent-Appellee
______________________
2020-2316
______________________
Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims in No. 19-4419, Judge Michael P. Allen,
Judge Joseph L. Falvey, Jr., and Judge Coral Wong Pi-
etsch.
______________________
Before L OURIE, T ARANTO, and HUGHES , Circuit Judges.
P ER CURIAM .
O R D E R
Upon consideration of counsel’s notice that appellant
died during the pendency of this appeal and response to the
court’s March 24, 2022, order indicating that he has “not
located any person capable of substituting for the deceased
appellant” and that he “no longer represent[s] a client ca-
pable of further prosecuting this appeal,” ECF No. 16,
Case: 20-2316 Document: 17 Page: 1 Filed: 05/31/2022

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BUCKNER v. MCDONOUGH 2
I T I S O RDERED T HAT :
(1) The appeal is dismissed, and the decision of the
Board of Veterans’ Appeals is vacated. See DiOrio v. Ni-
cholson, 216 F. App’x 974 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (vacating under-
lying decision under same circumstances); see generally
United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36, 40 (1950)
(explaining that vacatur is appropriate when review of the
underlying judgment is prevented by happenstance).
(2) Each side to bear its own costs.
May 31, 2022
Date
F OR THE COURT
/s/ Peter R. Marksteiner
Peter R. Marksteiner
Clerk of Court
cc: United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Case: 20-2316 Document: 17 Page: 2 Filed: 05/31/2022

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