⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

Veteran John Cooper seeks earlier dates for compensation tied to prostate cancer, diabetes, and a loss-of-use benefit, plus a higher prostate-cancer rating. Veterans Affairs denied his claims in 1997. In 2020, a declassified 1973 Air Force report was added to his file. The Project CHECO report described herbicide use around Thai air-base perimeters; Cooper served at one such base during the Vietnam era. In 2023, the Veterans Court sent the four claims back because the Board had not addressed that report or conflicting medical evidence. The Board then ordered a first-line Veterans Affairs office to determine the report's declassification date and clarify the medical exam. Cooper says the date cannot matter when the report only entered his file in 2020, and the Board should have granted earlier dates under section 3.156(c). That rule can require reconsideration when official service records are added after an earlier denial. Cooper appealed the remand itself. The Veterans Court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, calling it interlocutory—preliminary, not final. The Federal Circuit must decide whether the Appeals Modernization Act changed that rule because a remanded claim no longer returns automatically to the Board; the veteran must file a new notice of disagreement.

Cooper v. Collins (No. 25-1166) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, argued September 10, 2026.