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