       NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.


  United States Court of Appeals
      for the Federal Circuit
                ______________________

               ALVIN L. HIGHTOWER,
                 Claimant-Appellant,

                           v.

 ERIC K. SHINSEKI, Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
              Respondent-Appellee.
             ______________________

                      2013-7025
                ______________________

   Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims in No. 11-1862, Chief Judge Bruce E.
Kasold.
               ______________________

                     JUDGMENT
                ______________________

   KENNETH M. CARPENTER, Carpenter, Chartered, of
Topeka, Kansas, argued for claimant-appellant.

    ERIC P. BRUSKIN, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litiga-
tion Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of
Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for respondent-
appellee. With him on the brief were STUART F. DELERY,
Acting Assistant Attorney General, JEANNE E. DAVIDSON,
Director, and SCOTT D. AUSTIN, Assistant Director. Of
counsel on the brief were MICHAEL J. TIMINSKI, Deputy
Assistant General Counsel, and LARA K. EILHARDT, Attor-
ney, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, of
Washington, DC.
                ______________________

THIS CAUSE having been heard and considered, it is

ORDERED and ADJUDGED:


  PER CURIAM (RADER, Chief Judge, NEWMAN, and DYK,
                  Circuit Judges).

           AFFIRMED. See Fed. Cir. R. 36.

                      ENTERED BY ORDER OF THE COURT


 December 6, 2013                 /s/ Daniel E. O’Toole
      Date                        Daniel E. O’Toole
                                  Clerk of Court
