38 U.S.C. § 7291
Section 7291 · Date when Court decision becomes final
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 44 court decisions — leading case Stillwell v. Brown (1994)
Most recently applied in Bly v. Shulkin (March 2018)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) A decision of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims shall become final upon the expiration of the time allowed for filing, under section 7292 of this title, a notice of appeal from such decision, if no such notice is duly filed within such time. If such a notice is filed within such time, such a decision shall become final—
(1) upon the expiration of the time allowed for filing a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States, if the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is affirmed or the appeal is dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and no petition for certiorari is duly filed;
(2) upon the denial of a petition for certiorari, if the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is affirmed or the appeal is dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; or
(3) upon the expiration of 30 days from the date of issuance of the mandate of the Supreme Court, if that Court directs that the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims be affirmed or the appeal dismissed.
(b)(1) If the Supreme Court directs that the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims be modified or reversed, the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims rendered in accordance with the mandate of the Supreme Court shall become final upon the expiration of 30 days from the time it was rendered, unless within such 30 days either the Secretary or the petitioner has instituted proceedings to have such decision corrected to accord with the mandate, in which event the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims shall become final when so corrected.
(2) If the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is modified or reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and if—
(A) the time allowed for filing a petition for certiorari has expired and no such petition has been duly filed, or
(B) the petition for certiorari has been denied, or
(C) the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has been affirmed by the Supreme Court,
then the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims rendered in accordance with the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit shall become final upon the expiration of 30 days from the time such decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims was rendered, unless within such 30 days either the Secretary or the petitioner has instituted proceedings to have such decision corrected so that it will accord with the mandate, in which event the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims shall become final when so corrected.
(c) If the Supreme Court orders a rehearing, or if the case is remanded by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for a rehearing, and if—
(1) the time allowed for filing a petition for certiorari has expired and no such petition has been duly filed, or
(2) the petition for certiorari has been denied, or
(3) the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has been affirmed by the Supreme Court,
then the decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims rendered upon such rehearing shall become final in the same manner as though no prior decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims had been rendered.
(d) As used in this section, the term “mandate”, in case a mandate has been recalled before the expiration of 30 days from the date of issuance thereof, means the final mandate.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1998—Pub. L. 105–368, §512(a)(2)(B), substituted “Court decision” for “United States Court of Veterans Appeals decision” in section catchline.
Subsecs. (a) to (c). Pub. L. 105–368, §512(a)(1), substituted “Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims” for “Court of Veterans Appeals” wherever appearing.
1991—Pub. L. 102–40, §402(b)(1), renumbered section 4091 of this title as this section.
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–40, §402(d)(1), substituted “7292” for “4092” in introductory provisions.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–83 substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator” in pars. (1) and (2).
Effective Date of 1998 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 105–368 effective on first day of first month beginning more than 90 days after Nov. 11, 1998, see section 513 of Pub. L. 105–368, set out as a note under section 7251 of this title.