Citation Nr: 1304068	
Decision Date: 02/05/13    Archive Date: 02/08/13

DOCKET NO.  07-17 913	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Waco, Texas


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability on an extraschedular basis before to May 24, 2010.


REPRESENTATION

Veteran represented by:	Disabled American Veterans


WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL

The Veteran

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

M. G. Mazzucchelli, Counsel




INTRODUCTION

The Veteran, who is the appellant, served on active duty from October 1974 to December 1975. 

This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of a rating decision in April 2006 of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In December 2009, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  The transcript of the hearing has been associated with the Veteran's file. 

In April 2010, the Board remanded the case for additional development.  While on remand, in a rating decision in September 2010, the RO granted a 100 percent schedular rating for service-connected bipolar disorder, effective from May 24, 2010, the date of VA examination.  

With the grant of a 100 percent schedular rating, the appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center in Washington, DC.


REMAND

The Veteran asserts that he was unemployable due to service-connected bipolar disorder before May 24, 2010.  

As the effective date of the grant of the 100 percent schedular rating does not cover the entire period of the appeal, there remains the question of a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability before May 24, 2010. 






The Veteran's only compensable service-connected disability, bipolar disorder, was rated 50 percent before May 24, 2010, which does not meet the minimum schedular percentage standards for a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a), but does raise an extraschedulatr rating under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(b), which requires additional development.

Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action:

1.  Pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(b), refer the claim for a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability before May 24, 2010, to VA's Director of Compensation and Pension Service for extraschedular consideration.

2.  After the development has been completed, adjudicate the claim for a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability on an extraschedular basis before May 24, 2010.  If the benefit sought is denied, furnish the Veteran and his representative a supplemental statement of the case and return the case to the Board.

The Veteran has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter the Board has remanded.  Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999).











This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment.  The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner.  See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2010).



_________________________________________________
George E. Guido Jr.
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals

Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.  This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2010).