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Denial of Veterans Claims Affirmed, Plus Suit for Arbitrage Rebate Dismissed

By FindLaw Staff on June 07, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

In Strategic Hous. Fin. Corp. of Travis County v. US, No. 09-5078, the Federal Circuit faced a challenge to the order of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC) dismissing plaintiff's suit against the U.S. to recover its arbitrage rebate for lack of jurisdiction under I.R.C. section 7422(a).

In affirming the dismissal, the court held that section 7422(a) prohibits a court from asserting jurisdiction to hear a bond issuer's claim to recover an arbitrage rebate when the issuer failed to first seek an administrative refund from the IRS.  However, the portion of the CFC's judgment regarding whether I.R.C. section 148(f)(3) grants the Secretary of the Treasury unfettered discretion to accelerate an arbitrage rebate is vacated as the court should not have conducted an APA analysis after recognizing that it lacked jurisdiction. 

Nielson v. Shinseki, No. 09-7129, concerned a challenge to the final judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims denying petitioner entitlement to Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient dental treatment and related dental appliances.  In affirming the judgment, the court held that a "service trauma" under the statute is an injury or wound produced by an external physical force during the performance of military duties, and does not include the intended result of proper medical treatment, such as extraction of teeth due to periodontal infection. 

Roberson v. Shinseki, No. 09-7093, concerned a challenge to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims' affirmance of the Board of Veterans' Appeals' decision denying petitioner's claim for death and indemnity compensation for her husband's death from non-service connected cancer.  In affirming the denial, the court held that the Veterans Court correctly interpreted the elements required for a claimant's recovery under the previous version of 38 U.S.C. section 1151. 

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