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

Plaintiff, a mail processing clerk, was injured on-duty in 2005 and received workers' compensation. She partially recovered and, in 2008, the Postal Service provided a modified light duty assignment. In June 2010, pursuant to the National Reassessment Process, the Postal Service informed plaintiff that work within her medical restrictions was no longer available in her commuting area. The Merit Systems Protection Board dismissed her claim under 5 C.F.R. 353.304(c)) of wrongful denial of restoration following partial recovery from a compensable injury. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The Board applied the correct standard in determining its jurisdiction, and its factual determinations were supported by substantial evidence. Plaintiff did not identify any vacant position available within her commuting area that she was able to perform. Plaintiff did not make a non-frivolous allegation that the Service acted arbitrarily in not restoring her, even after the Board ordered her make such a showing and afforded her time to do so.

Plaintiff is a physician, disabled by multiple sclerosis, and had no significant medical issues prior to exhibiting symptoms of MS. She received three Hepatitis B immunizations in 1996-1997 and began to experience symptoms. Although she was under medical care, she was not given a provisional diagnosis until 2003. In 2004, she was awarded Social Security disability benefits. Plaintiff first became aware of an association between MS and the Hep-B vaccine in 2004. The Court of Claims affirmed denial of compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program established by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, 42 U.S.C. 300aa-1 to -34, as time-barred. The Federal Circuit reverse, holding that the limitations period does not begin running when the claimant first experiences symptoms in cases where the medical community at large does not recognize that the symptom is related to a vaccine and the claimant has not received medical information suggesting a connection.