`
`NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
`
`United States Court of Appeals
`for the Federal Circuit
`______________________
`
`THELMA S. SOMMER,
`Claimant-Appellant
`
`v.
`
`ROBERT WILKIE, SECRETARY OF VETERANS
`AFFAIRS,
`Respondent-Appellee
`______________________
`
`2019-1764
`______________________
`
`Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
`Veterans Claims in No. 18-5250, Judge Michael P. Allen.
`______________________
`
`Decided: October 4, 2019
`______________________
`
`THELMA S. SOMMER, Pasadena, TX, pro se.
`
`
` LAUREN MOORE, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil
`Division, United States Department of Justice, Washing-
`ton, DC, for respondent-appellee. Also represented by
`TARA K. HOGAN, JOSEPH H. HUNT, ROBERT EDWARD
`KIRSCHMAN, JR.; BRANDON A. JONAS, Y. KEN LEE, Office of
`General Counsel, United States Department of Veterans
`Affairs, Washington, DC.
` ______________________
`
`
`
`2
`
`SOMMER v. WILKIE
`
`
`Before NEWMAN, MOORE, and CHEN, Circuit Judges.
`PER CURIAM.
`Thelma S. Sommer appeals a decision of the U.S. Court
`of Appeals for Veterans Claims (“Veterans Court”) dismiss-
`ing her case for lack of jurisdiction under 38 U.S.C. §§ 7252,
`7266(a). Sommer v. Wilkie, No. 19-1508, 2019 U.S. App.
`Vet. Claims LEXIS 111 (Vet. App. Jan. 28, 2019) (“Veterans
`Court Decision”). Because we too lack jurisdiction, we dis-
`miss.
`
`BACKGROUND
`Mrs. Sommer is the surviving spouse of United States
`Navy veteran, Mr. Charles F. Sommer, Jr. After Mr. Som-
`mer’s death in 2005, Mrs. Sommer filed a claim for and was
`awarded nonservice-connected death pension benefits.
`Sommer v. Wilkie, 739 F. App’x 641 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In
`2006, the Veterans Affairs Regional Office (“RO”) termi-
`nated her benefits because her annual income exceeded the
`Maximum Annual Pension Rate (“MAPR”). Id. Mrs. Som-
`mer appealed the termination, but later withdrew that ap-
`peal in 2009. In 2010, Mrs. Sommer filed another claim for
`benefits, which the RO denied a year later. Id. Mrs. Som-
`mer appealed, and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals
`(“Board”) denied her claim. Id. Mrs. Sommer then ap-
`pealed the Board’s decision to the Veterans Court. Id. The
`Veterans Court affirmed the Board and Mrs. Sommer ap-
`pealed to this court. Id. On October 9, 2018, we dismissed
`the case after concluding that Mrs. Sommer failed to raise
`any issue within our limited jurisdiction. Id.
`While the appeal before us was pending, Mrs. Sommer
`filed another notice of appeal at the Veterans Court on Sep-
`tember 17, 2018. The government moved to dismiss the
`appeal for lack of jurisdiction because Mrs. Sommer had
`failed to identify an appealable Board decision. The Veter-
`ans Court ordered Mrs. Sommer to show cause as to why it
`
`
`
`SOMMER v. WILKIE
`
`3
`
`should not dismiss her case. It also asked her to provide
`the Veterans Court with a copy of the Board decision she
`wished to appeal. Mrs. Sommer did not provide any such
`decision and stated in response that she needed the money.
`Thus, on January 28, 2019, the Veterans Court granted the
`government’s motion to dismiss the case for lack of juris-
`diction under §§ 7252, 7266(a). Veterans Court Decision,
`U.S. App. Vet. Claims LEXIS 111, at *1. The Veterans
`Court issued a final judgment on February 28, 2019, after
`denying Mrs. Sommer’s request for reconsideration in
`which she again failed to identify an appealable Board de-
`cision and simply stated that she needed her husband’s re-
`tirement. J.A. 13–14.
`Mrs. Sommer appeals the Veterans Court’s decision to
`this court seeking to invoke our jurisdiction under 38
`U.S.C. § 7292(a).
`
`DISCUSSION
`Our jurisdiction to review decisions of the Veterans
`Court is limited by statute. Pursuant to 38 U.S.C.
`§ 7292(a), we may review “the validity of a decision of the
`[Veterans] Court on a rule of law or of any statute or regu-
`lation . . . or any interpretation thereof (other than a deter-
`mination as to a factual matter) that was relied on by the
`[Veterans] Court in making the decision.” Except with re-
`spect to constitutional issues, we “may not review (A) a
`challenge to a factual determination, or (B) a challenge to
`a law or regulation as applied to the facts of a particular
`case.” 38 U.S.C. § 7292(d)(2).
`Here, the Veterans Court’s decision involved only the
`application of the law to fact. The Veterans Court applied
`§§ 7252 and 7266(a), which limit its jurisdiction to appeals
`from final Board decisions, to the facts in this case—that
`Mrs. Sommer failed to appeal a final Board decision. Thus,
`we lack jurisdiction to review this question.
`
`
`
`4
`
`SOMMER v. WILKIE
`
`CONCLUSION
`Because we lack jurisdiction over Mrs. Sommer’s ap-
`peal, we dismiss.
`
`DISMISSED
`COSTS
`
`No costs.
`
`
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