Ibeling v. Brown

8 Vet. App. 256, 1995 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 748, 1995 WL 592994
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
DecidedOctober 10, 1995
DocketNo. 95-104
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 8 Vet. App. 256 (Ibeling v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ibeling v. Brown, 8 Vet. App. 256, 1995 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 748, 1995 WL 592994 (Cal. 1995).

Opinion

IVERS, Judge:

Donald John Ibeling appeals from a March 29, 1990, decision of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA or Board). The sole issue before the Court is whether the appellant’s Notice of Appeal (NOA), filed on January 30, 1995, was timely.

I. Factual Background

When the appellant filed a claim for service connection for chronic prostatitis, his mailing address was 404 First Street, S.W., Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404. Preliminary Record (Prelim.R.) at 2. Based on the preliminary record currently before us, it appears that the claim was denied by a VA regional office (RO). During the pendency of his appeal, the appellant changed addresses. He claims that he informed VA by letter of his new address. Appellant’s Response to Motion to Dismiss at 4. The appellant also informed Senator Charles Grassley’s office of his address change, and requested assistance in connection with his claim. The Senator’s office forwarded the correspondence to VA’s Senate Liaison Office. Prelim.R. at 1. In that letter to Senator Grassley, the appellant indicated that he would be moving on November 7,1989, to Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, where he had been posted as the Rural Agricultural and Construction Ad-visor through the Peace Corps. Prelim.R. at 2.

On March 29, 1990, the Board issued a decision on the appellant’s claim. On April 3, 1990, the Board mailed a copy of the decision via the United States Postal Service to the appellant at “404 First Street, SW, Cedar Rapids, LA 52403 [or 52404].” Prelim.R. at 6 (emphasis added). Several days later, however, the decision was returned as undeliverable (ibid.), and the Board requested that the RO seek to ascertain the appellant’s new address and to forward the BVA decision to him at that new address (Prelim.R. at 5). The Board also sent a copy of the decision to the appellant’s service representative, the American Legion, via the “flat mail” procedure described in Trammell v. Brown, 6 Vet.App. 181, 182-83 (1994). Secretary’s Motion to Dismiss, Declaration of Robert L. Ashworth, ¶¶ 6-11.

On February 6, 1992, the appellant wrote to the RO in Phoenix, Arizona, requesting that his claims file be sent from the Des Moines, Iowa, RO to the Phoenix RO. Prelim.R. at 7.

[258]*258In a letter to Senator Grassley’s office, dated December 7,1992, the appellant sought assistance in appealing the Board’s decision. Prelim.R. at 9-10. In that letter, the appellant indicated that a copy of the BVA decision had been sent to the appellant by the American Legion, his service representative at the time, but that the decision had not been forwarded to him in the Solomon Islands. Prelim.R. at 9. The appellant also stated in his December 7 letter that Senator Grassley’s office had previously mailed a copy of the Board decision to the appellant, but that the copy “arrived substantially after the appeal time had passed.” Ibid.

On June 30, 1994, the Board received from the American Legion a motion for reconsideration of the March 1990 BVA decision. Prelim.R. at 12. The Chairman of the BVA denied reconsideration on October 4, 1994.

The appellant filed an NOA with the Court on January 30, 1995. The Secretary filed a motion to dismiss on June 2, 1995, and the appellant responded on June 26, 1995.

II. Analysis

This Court’s appellate jurisdiction derives exclusively from the statutory grant of authority provided by Congress, and we may not extend our jurisdiction beyond that permitted by law. See Christianson v. Colt Industries Operating Corp., 486 U.S. 800, 818, 108 S.Ct. 2166, 2179, 100 L.Ed.2d 811 (1988); see also Premier v. Derwinski, 928 F.2d 392, 393-94 (Fed.Cir.1991); Skinner v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 2, 3 (1990). Pursuant to Rule 4 of the Court’s Rules of Practice and Procedure and 38 U.S.C. § 7266(a), an NOA must be filed with the Court within 120 days after notice of the BVA decision is mailed to an appellant and to his or her representative. See Machado v. Derwinski, 928 F.2d 389, 391 (Fed.Cir.1991) (compliance with 38 U.S.C. § 7266(a) is required, and Court is not authorized to extend 120-day period for filing NOA); see also Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 1994, Pub.L. No. 103-446, § 511, 108 Stat. 4645, 4670 (1994) (Congress amended 38 U.S.C. § 7266(a) to apply “mailbox rule” to NOAs delivered or mailed to Court on or after November 2, 1994; under “mailbox rule,” NOA is deemed received on date of receipt, if NOA is in fact delivered, or on date of United States Postal Service postmark, if NOA is properly addressed to Court and mailed).

Under 38 U.S.C. § 7104(e),

After reaching a decision in a case, the Board shall promptly mail a copy of its written decision to the claimant and the claimant’s authorized representative (if any) at the last known address of the claimant and at the last known address of such representative (if any).

There is a presumption of regularity that “the Secretary and the BVA properly discharged their official duties by mailing a copy of a BVA decision to the claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, on the date the decision is issued.” Ashley v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 307, 309 (1992), reconsidering, 2 Vet.App. 62 (1992). The presumption of regularity may be rebutted by “clear evidence to the effect that the BVA’s ‘regular’ mailing practices are not regular or that they were not followed,” whereupon that “burden shifts to the Secretary to establish that the BVA decision was mailed to the veteran and the veteran’s representative, if any, as required by 38 U.S.C. § 7104(e).” Ashley, 2 Vet.App. at 309; Davis v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 298, 300 (1994). A defect in mailing “can be cured by proof of actual receipt of a copy of the BVA decision.” Davis, 7 Vet.App. at 303; see Pepitone v. Brown, 8 Vet.App. 31, 33 (1995); Fluker v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 296, 298 (1993); Ashley, 2 Vet.App. at 311; see also Leo v. Brown, 8 Vet.App. 28, 31 (1995).

The presumption of regularity has been rebutted with respect to the mailing of the BVA decision to the appellant’s service representative, the American Legion. In Trammell, 6 Vet.App. at 182-83, the Court invalidated the type of flat mail procedure used in this ease,, which involves sending copies of BVA decisions to local ROs for distribution to veterans’ service organizations. In Davis, 7 Vet.App. at 303, the Court held that the requirement in 38 U.S.C. § 7104

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Bluebook (online)
8 Vet. App. 256, 1995 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 748, 1995 WL 592994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ibeling-v-brown-cavc-1995.