Opinion
2012-7159
10-16-2012
MELVIN LETT, Claimant-Appellant, v. ERIC K. SHINSEKI, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Respondent-Appellee.
NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.
Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in case no. 10-3178, Judge Lawrence B. Hagel.
ON MOTION
Before LINN, DYK, and WALLACH, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM.
ORDER
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs moves to dismiss this appeal as untimely.
On May 7, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veterans Court) entered judgment in Lett's case. According to the docket of the Veterans Court, the court received Lett's notice of appeal on July 16, 2012, 70 days after the date of judgment.
To be timely, a notice of appeal must be filed with the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims within 60 days of the entry of judgment. See 38 U.S.C. § 7292(a); 28 U.S.C. § 2107(b); Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1). The statutory deadline for taking an appeal to this court is jurisdictional and thus mandatory. Henderson v. Shinseki, 131 S. Ct. 1197, 1204-05 (2011) (the language of Section 7292(a) "clearly signals an intent" to impose the same jurisdictional restrictions on an appeal from the Veterans Court to the Federal Circuit as imposed on appeals from a district court to a court of appeals); see also Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007). Because Lett's appeal as to the underlying judgment was filed outside of the statutory deadline for taking an appeal to this court, we must dismiss the appeal.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED THAT:
(1) The motion is granted.
(2) The appeal is dismissed.
(3) Each side shall bear its own costs.
FOR THE COURT
_________________
Jan Horbaly
Clerk
cc: Melvin Lett
Jeremiah M. Luongo, Esq.
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