Citation Nr: 1415789	
Decision Date: 04/09/14    Archive Date: 04/15/14

DOCKET NO.  10-08 393	)	DATE
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Columbia, South Carolina


THE ISSUE

Evaluation of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), currently rated as 50 percent disabling.


REPRESENTATION

Veteran represented by:	Disabled American Veterans


WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL

The Veteran and an unidentified party


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Ryan P. Connally, General Attorney


INTRODUCTION

The Veteran had active service from October 1968 until October 1970.

This matter was originally before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2009 decision of the Columbia, South Carolina, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  In October 2010, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge (VLJ).  In September 2011, the Board issued a decision that partially granted the claim of a higher evaluation of PTSD, currently rated as 50 percent disabling, assigning a 70 percent rating. 


ORDER TO VACATE

The Board may vacate an appellate decision at any time upon request of the appellant or his or her representative, or on the Board's own motion, when an appellant has been denied due process of law.  38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.904 (2013).

In September 2013, pursuant to a settlement agreement in the case of National Org. of Veterans' Advocates, Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 725 F.3d 1312 (Fed. Cir. 2013), the Board sent the Veteran a letter notifying him of an opportunity to receive a new decision from the Board that would correct any potential due process error relating to the duties of the VLJ that conducted the October 2010 hearing.  See Bryant v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 488 (2010) (holding that the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(c)(2) apply to a hearing before the Board and that a VLJ has a duty to explain fully the issues and to suggest the submission of evidence that may have been overlooked).  In September 2013, the Veteran responded that he wished to have the prior decision vacated and a new one issued in its place.


Accordingly, the September 2011 Board decision is vacated.  



	                        ____________________________________________
	JOAQUIN AGUAYO-PERELES
	Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals