Citation Nr: 0814600 Decision Date: 05/02/08 Archive Date: 05/12/08 DOCKET NO. 06-15 484 ) DATE ) Received from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Detroit, Michigan THE ISSUES 1. Entitlement to a higher initial evaluation for service- connected asbestosis, rated as 10 percent disabling from December 9, 2004. 2. Entitlement to service connection for heart disease as secondary to service-connected asbestosis. 3. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Van Stewart, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served honorably in the U.S. Navy from July 1950 to February 1954. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of a June 2005 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Augusta, Maine, and a September 2005 rating decision by the RO in Detroit, Michigan. FINDING OF FACT On April 25, 2008, before that Board acted on the veteran's appeal, the Board was notified that the veteran had died in September 2007. CONCLUSION OF LAW Due to the death of the veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal. 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2007). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION Unfortunately, the veteran died during the pendency of the appeal. As a matter of law, appellants' claims do not survive their deaths. Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Smith v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 330, 333-34 (1997); Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 42, 47 (1994). This appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the veteran and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302. In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the veteran. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1106 (2007). ORDER The appeal is dismissed. ________________________________ MARK F. HALSEY Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Department of Veterans Affairs