Citation Nr: 1329107	
Decision Date: 09/11/13    Archive Date: 09/17/13

DOCKET NO.  13-09 397A	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Buffalo, New York


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to an effective date prior to January 16, 2002, for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss.  


REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by:	The American Legion


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

D. Van Wambeke, Counsel


INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1942 to November 1944.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a March 2012 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Buffalo, New York.  

The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Washington, DC.  VA will notify the appellant if further action is required.


REMAND

Service connection for bilateral hearing loss was granted in an October 2002 rating decision with a 60 percent rating effective January 16, 2002.  The Veteran was notified of this decision on October 16, 2002, but did not file an appeal.  He submitted a claim for entitlement to an effective date earlier than January 16, 2002, in April 2011.  This claim was adjudicated and denied in a March 2012 rating decision.  A timely notice of disagreement (NOD) was filed in November 2012.  There is no indication that a statement of the case (SOC) has been issued to the Veteran addressing this claim.  The Court has held that where a NOD has been filed with regard to an issue, and a SOC has not been issued, the appropriate Board action is to remand the issue to the RO for issuance of a SOC.  Manlincon v. West, 12 Vet. App. 238 (1999).  This must be accomplished on remand.

Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action:

Provide the Veteran a statement of the case with respect to the issue of entitlement to an effective date prior to January 16, 2002, for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss.  The Veteran should be informed of the actions necessary to perfect an appeal on this issue.  Thereafter, this issue is to be returned to the Board only if an adequate and timely substantive appeal is filed.

The appellant 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 or by the U.S. 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. 2012).



_________________________________________________
KATHLEEN K. GALLAGHER
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) (2012).