Justia U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The VA denied the plaintiff's claim for benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from a sexual assault that she claimed occurred in 1984, while she was stationed in Japan. The Veterans Court and Federal Circuit affirmed. The Veterans Court committed harmless error in stating that a medical opinion based on a post-service exam cannot be used to establish the occurrence; the Veterans Board of Appeals detailed its consideration of all of the plaintiff's evidence and determined that the preponderance of the evidence was against a finding of verification of the occurrence.

In 1978 the VA published an Agent Orange Program Guide that was the basis for denial of many claims of service-related injury. While a suit, challenging the Guide as issued in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), was pending, Congress enacted the 1984 Veteransâ Dioxin and Radiation Exposure Compensation Standards Act, which rendered the Guide irrelevant to new claims. Plaintiffs continued to pursue their suit and, in 2005, new named plaintiffs were added. In 2008, the district court granted the government's 1979 motion for judgment. The D.C. Circuit first remanded the case for transfer under the 1988 Veterans Judicial Review Act, 38 U.S.C. 502, but, on rehearing, ordered dismissal. The veterans refiled in the Federal Circuit, which dismissed for failure to file within the Act's six-year limitations period. When the claim was filed, no court had jurisdiction to hear APA challenges to VA regulations and the 1988 Act did not retroactively create a cause of action.

In 1983 the Department of Energy contracted to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from plaintiff's Columbia, Washington facility. The DOE failed to perform and, with its own temporary storage filling up, the plaintiff began work on its own permanent storage facility in 2002. The trial court award of $56.9 million included amounts for modifications to the temporary storage facility, indirect overhead, and financing costs. The Federal Circuit vacated. The plaintiff was entitled to damages for modifications only to the extent that it could prove that, but for the breach, those costs would not have been incurred; the trial court did not require the plaintiff to prove causation. The trial court properly included an award for indirect overhead calculated to a reasonable certainty. The government was entitled to sovereign immunity (28 U.S.C. 2516) with respect to the award of $6 million in interest; the contract did not waive immunity.

Following a Veterans Court remand of a claim for service benefits relating to post-traumatic stress, the veteran submitted a petition for attorney fees and expenses in the amount of $6,193. The VA found that the veteran was a prevailing party, with a net worth of less than $2,000,000, and that the VA position was not substantially justified, as required by the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412, but that several billing items should be denied for lack of sufficient detail. The Veterans Court agreed and reduced the fee award by $437.50, rejecting a claim that additional detail would violate attorney-client privilege. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The Act does not abrogate privilege; its specificity requirements do not require disclosure of the exact contents of communications identified on a bill and do not violate privilege. Having been publicly filed, the general nature of the claim and documents filed are not privileged.

The Department of Commerce has employed a technique known as "zeroing" when it investigates a claim that a foreign producer is "dumping" products in the United States at a price below the price in the country of origin. Using zeroing, margins for sales of merchandise sold by a particular exporter at dumped prices are aggregated and margins for sales at non-dumped prices are given a value of zero; the alternative, known as "offsetting," involves aggregating both dumped and non-dumped prices. The statute, 19 U.S.C. 1677(35)(A), refers to calculation of a "dumping margin" equal to "the amount by which the normal value exceeds the export price." Domestic producers read the word "exceeds" as requiring zeroing. The Federal Circuit has previously upheld use of zeroing in both investigation and administrative review. Following a World Trade Organization decision disapproving the practice, the Department began using offsetting for investigations and zeroing in administrative review. The Court of International Trade upheld the practice. The Federal Circuit reversed, holding that the Department had not adequately justified use of two different interpretations of an ambiguous statute.

The company imports components for home storage and organization systems. The U.S. Customs Service liquidated wall panels and locator tabs as "other articles of plastic" rather than as furniture. The company filed protests and requested that the parts be reclassified under duty free provisions. Customs denied the protests. The Court of International Trade ruled in favor of Customs. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded. While the lower court examined appropriate authority in defining "unit furniture," it incorrectly determined that a storage panel with hooks was like a wall rack rather than furniture. Noting the various accessories and configurations available with the system, the court stated that the product's versatility is the "very essence of unit furniture."