1Ls, take note: arcane jurisdictional statutes matter! Just look at a little-noticed ruling from the D.C. Circuit involving a former Marine who for years has sought to have his discharge status upgraded. In a cursory ruling Friday (Oct. 12), the D.C. Circuit gave him no help because the court found various jurisdictional problems with his case.
Frank Palacios served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1992 to 1995 and received an other-than-honorable discharge due to misconduct. He later argued through military channels that his misconduct stemmed from physical and mental disabilities, and he attempted to have his discharge status upgraded, but his requests were denied.
One of the agencies that denied him relief was the Board for Correction of Naval Records. In 2015, Palacios asked that board to reconsider, and the board again said no. Palacios then sued in the D.C. district court, seeking to overturn the board’s denial of reconsideration. The district judge dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and denied other requests by Palacios attempting to keep the case alive.
In Palacios v. Spencer, the D.C. Circuit agreed that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Palacios was seeking more than $10,000 in back pay from the military, and such claims are reviewable only in the Court of Federal Claims, not in federal district courts, the D.C. Circuit held in an opinion by Judge Randolph (joined by Judges Griffith and Edwards),
Palacios did attempt to avoid dismissal by asking the district judge to transfer his case to the Court of Federal Claims—a request the district judge denied. In another technical jurisdictional holding, Randolph wrote that the D.C. Circuit has no ability to review the denial of the transfer request, because denials of transfers to the Court of Federal Claims are, by statute, not appealable to the D.C. Circuit.
