Opinion
No. 84-3085.
January 10, 1985. Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied February 11, 1985.
Frank M. Bosworth, Jr., Clearwater, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.
David V. Seaman, Civ. Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Gary J. Takacs, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tampa, Fla., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court of the Middle District of Florida.
The federal courts have no jurisdiction of this claim for veteran's benefits, which, with certain exceptions, are made judicially unreviewable by the VA Finality Statute, 38 U.S.C. § 211(a). Plaintiff seeks to escape the statute by contesting the Administrator's actions in only partially retroactively applying a decision of the Veteran's Board of Appeals, alleging that he has a property interest in the benefits. Assuming without deciding that this court would recognize an exception for a constitutional challenge to VA procedures, compare Anderson v. VA, 559 F.2d 935, 936 (5th Cir. 1977), and Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 94 S.Ct. 1160, 39 L.Ed.2d 389 (1974), the challenge in this instance is unavailing. The alleged property interest in the benefits would make every decision denying benefits judicially reviewable and would subsume § 211(a). See De Sibonga v. Administrator of Veterans Affairs, 458 F.2d 789 (D.C. Cir. 1972).
AFFIRMED.