`
`NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
`
`United States Court of Appeals
`for the Federal Circuit
`______________________
`
`PEARLIE M. BRUNSON,
`Claimant-Appellant
`
`v.
`
`DENIS MCDONOUGH, SECRETARY OF
`VETERANS AFFAIRS,
`Respondent-Appellee
`______________________
`
`2023-1936
`______________________
`
`Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
`Veterans Claims in No. 21-4225, Judge Scott Laurer.
`______________________
`
`Decided: April 8, 2024
`______________________
`
`PEARLIE M. BRUNSON, Monetta, SC, pro se.
`
`
` JOSEPH ALAN PIXLEY, Commercial Litigation Branch,
`Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash-
`ington, DC, for respondent-appellee. Also represented by
`BRIAN M. BOYNTON, WILLIAM JAMES GRIMALDI, PATRICIA M.
`MCCARTHY.
`
`______________________
`
`Before TARANTO, STOLL, and STARK, Circuit Judges.
`
`
`
`Case: 23-1936 Document: 21 Page: 2 Filed: 04/08/2024
`
`2
`
`BRUNSON v. MCDONOUGH
`
`
`PER CURIAM.
`In August 1969, Pearlie Mae Brunson was legally
`married under South Carolina law to Wallace G. Brunson,
`Jr., a veteran with active service in the U.S. Army from
`June 1969 to June 1971. Appx17, 22, 75.1 After the
`Brunsons’ legal divorce in July 2014 and Mr. Brunson’s
`death in March 2016, Appx19, 25, Ms. Brunson filed a
`claim for VA death benefits, stating that she was entitled
`to such benefits because she was Mr. Brunson’s surviving
`spouse, Appx80–81. The Regional Office denied that claim
`in August 2016, stating that because the Brunsons had le-
`gally divorced in July 2014 and were not married at the
`time of Mr. Brunson’s death, Ms. Brunson could not, under
`the applicable statutes and regulations, be recognized as
`Mr. Brunson’s surviving spouse. Appx60, 63. The Board
`of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) affirmed that decision, Appx7,
`and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veter-
`ans Court) affirmed the Board, Brunson v. McDonough,
`No. 21-4225, 2023 WL 1771250 (Vet. App. Feb. 6, 2023).
`Ms. Brunson appeals the Veterans Court’s decision.
`We must dismiss because the appeal raises no issue that is
`within our limited jurisdiction. In particular, as relevant
`here, our jurisdiction is limited to “relevant questions of
`law, including interpreting constitutional and statutory
`provisions,” but we “may not review (A) a challenge to a
`factual determination, or (B) a challenge to a law or regu-
`lation as applied to the facts of a particular case,” unless
`that challenge “presents a constitutional issue.” 38 U.S.C.
`§ 7292(d); see also § 7292(a). Here, we have no challenge to
`a Veterans Court’s decision on the validity or interpreta-
`tion of a statute or regulation, on constitutional issues, or
`on any other relevant questions of law.
`
`
`“Appx” refers to the appendix filed by the Secretary
`1
`in this court with its brief as appellee.
`
`
`
`Case: 23-1936 Document: 21 Page: 3 Filed: 04/08/2024
`
`BRUNSON v. MCDONOUGH
`
`3
`
`The Veterans Court, in its decision, reviewed the
`Board’s application of the relevant statutes and regula-
`tions—those which define a “surviving spouse” for pur-
`poses of awarding VA death benefits—to the facts of Mrs.
`Brunson’s claim. See Brunson, 2023 WL 1771250, at *1–2
`& nn.2 & 6 (citing 38 U.S.C. § 101(3); 38 C.F.R. § 3.50(b)).
`And it is that application of law to facts (which we do not
`have jurisdiction to review) that Ms. Brunson challenges
`here. See, e.g., Ms. Brunson’s Informal Brief Part 2 at 4 (“I
`don’t agree with what the Secretary argues that since the
`couple divorce[d] and didn’t remarry, [the] Secretary stated
`that I [don’t] qualify as a surviving spouse. I disagree with
`that decision.”). In her brief on appeal, Ms. Brunson con-
`cededly does not claim to present a question of law or a con-
`stitutional issue. See Ms. Brunson’s Informal Brief Part 1
`at 1–2 (affirming that the Veterans Court’s decision did not
`“involve the validity or interpretation of a statute or regu-
`lation” and did not “decide constitutional issues”).
`Because we do not have jurisdiction to review the
`challenge to the Veterans Court’s decision that Ms.
`Brunson presents, we must dismiss her appeal.
`The parties shall bear their own costs.
`DISMISSED
`
`
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