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891 F.3d 1366

Docket Leslie Punt, Claimant-Appellant v. Peter O'Rourke, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Respondent-Appellee

Docket Taylor Daniels, Claimant-Appellant v. Peter O'Rourke, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Respondent-Appellee

Docket Herbert Mitchell Miller, Claimant-Appellant v. Peter O'Rourke, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Respondent-Appellee

Docket 2017-1762 2017-1789 2017-1796 2017-1926

Rose v. O'Rourke

Federal Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 2018-06-07

2 counsel of record

Decided 2018-06-07

¶1Edward Thomas ROSE, Claimant-Appellant
v.
Peter O'ROURKE, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Respondent-Appellee

¶2John Aubrey Chandler, King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta, GA, argued for claimants-appellants. Also represented by Elizabeth Vranicar Tanis ; Christopher Robert Healy, Washington, DC; Thomas G. Hentoff, Liam James Montgomery, Stephen Raber, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, DC.

¶3Alexander Orlando Canizares, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, argued for respondent-appellee. Also represented by Chad A. Readler, Robert E. Kirschman, Jr., Martin F. Hockey, Jr. ; Brian D. Griffin, Jonathan Krisch, Office of General Counsel, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.

¶4Before Prost, Chief Judge, Schall and Moore, Circuit Judges.

¶5Prost, Chief Judge.

¶6*1367The four individual appellants in this consolidated appeal are veterans who have appealed the Department of Veterans Affairs' ("VA") denial of their claims for service-connected disability benefits. Based on delays that have occurred in each of their cases, Appellants petitioned for writs of mandamus, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ("Veterans Court") for relief. The Veterans Court denied the petitions.

¶7For the reasons stated in our decision in Martin v. O'Rourke , No. 17-1747, we remand the appeals of Mr. Rose and Ms. Punt so that their mandamus petitions may be considered under the TRAC standard.

¶8Regretfully, the parties have informed us that Mr. Miller passed away during the course of this appeal. ECF No. 77-1 at 2. As such, his appeal in this case is moot. With respect to Mr. Daniels, the VA granted his claim for benefits in December 2017. ECF No. 77-1 at 2. To the extent Mr. Daniels intends to file a Notice of Disagreement with that recent decision, he remains free to, in the future, file a mandamus petition based on delay, should the need arise. His currently pending appeal, however, is moot.

¶9Accordingly, we vacate and remand the appeals of Mr. Rose and Ms. Punt for *1368reconsideration under the TRAC standard, and we dismiss the appeals of Mr. Miller and Mr. Daniels as moot.

¶10DISMISSED-IN-PART, VACATED-IN-PART, AND REMANDED

¶11COSTS

¶12Costs to Appellants.

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