Faye R. Hobson v. Department of Defense

N OTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
FAYE R. HOBSON,
Petitioner
v.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
Respondent
______________________
2023-1258
______________________
Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection
Board in No. CH-1221-15-0470-W-1.
______________________
Before D YK, T ARANTO, and STOLL , Circuit Judges.
P ER CURIAM .
O R D E R
Faye R. Hobson has filed a petition for review of the
Merit Systems Protection Board’s final October 4, 2022, de-
cision. In response to this court’s February 16, 2023, order
to show cause, the Department of Defense urges dismissal
as untimely. Faye R. Hobson opposes dismissal.
Under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A), a petition to review a
final decision by the Board must be filed “within 60 days
after the Board issues notice of the final . . . decision,” and
this deadline is mandatory and jurisdictional, Fedora v.
Case: 23-1258 Document: 17 Page: 1 Filed: 04/21/2023

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HOBSON v. DEFENSE 2
Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 848 F.3d 1013, 1016 (Fed. Cir. 2017).
See ECF No. 1-2 at 20 (Board decision noting that the peti-
tion for review “must be received by th[is] court within 60
calendar days” (emphases in original)). In this case, the
deadline for Ms. Hobson to file her petition for review was
December 5, 2022,* but her petition was not received by
this court until December 7, 2022.
Ms. Hobson argues that her petition is timely because
she mailed it before the deadline. She cites to 27 C.F.R.
§ 70.305 for the proposition that her “[t]imely mailing”
should be “treated as [a] timely filing.” ECF No. 12 at 2.
However, that regulation applies to the Alcohol and To-
bacco Tax and Trade Bureau, not to filings with this court.
For petitions filed under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A), we have
held (consistent with Federal Rule of Appellate Proce-
dure 25(a)(2)(A)(i)) that “filing requires actual receipt by
the court, not just timely mailing.” Fedora, 848 F.3d at
1016. Because Ms. Hobson’s petition was filed outside the
statutory deadline, we dismiss.
Accordingly,
I T I S O RDERED T HAT :
(1) The petition for review is dismissed.
(2) Each party shall bear its own costs.
April 21, 2023
Date
F OR THE COURT
/s/ Peter R. Marksteiner
Peter R. Marksteiner
Clerk of Court
* Because the 60-day deadline fell on December 3,
2022, which was a Saturday, Ms. Hobson’s petition was due
no later than Monday, December 5, 2022. See Fed. R. App.
P. 26(a)(1).
Case: 23-1258 Document: 17 Page: 2 Filed: 04/21/2023

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