Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section explains when a Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision becomes final, including when no Federal Circuit appeal is filed and after Federal Circuit or Supreme Court proceedings. It also addresses decisions entered after modification, reversal, remand, or rehearing.
Without a timely Federal Circuit notice of appeal, finality follows expiration of the allowed filing time. With further review, finality can depend on certiorari timing, denial, a Supreme Court mandate, or a later Veterans Court decision conforming to an appellate mandate. The section includes specific thirty-day correction periods after some mandate-based decisions.
How this helps your claim
Finality depends on the appellate path and applicable filing periods. The statute describes events that trigger finality; it should not be used alone to calculate a deadline without current court rules and the actual docket.
What to check in your records
Map the Court decision, any Federal Circuit or Supreme Court filing, mandate, rehearing, and correction event in order.
- Keep the Veterans Court decision, judgment, mandate, and docket entries.
- Preserve notices of appeal, Federal Circuit orders, and certiorari filings.
- Record mandates, rehearing orders, and corrected decisions with dates.
Use the live docket, not a generic date calculator
Collect every court entry in sequence and identify whether a notice, petition, mandate, recall, remand, or rehearing changed the path. A decision date by itself may not reveal when finality occurs.
Because appellate deadlines can control rights, verify them from current court rules and qualified counsel using the actual service and docket facts. This explainer describes the finality framework but does not calculate the deadline in an individual case.
Is a Veterans Court decision final on the date printed at the top?
Not necessarily. Finality can depend on the time for further appeal and any Federal Circuit or Supreme Court proceedings. The docket, mandates, and current filing rules must be checked.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 7291
OLRC release: pl-119-108. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 7291. Date when Court decision becomes final
(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.
Related references
- 38 USC § 7252: What the Veterans Court may review
- 38 USC § 7266: Appealing a Board Decision to the Veterans Court
- 38 USC § 7292: Federal Circuit review of Veterans Court decisions
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