Citation Nr: 1803102 Decision Date: 01/17/18 Archive Date: 01/29/18 DOCKET NO. 09-49 514 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Huntington, West Virginia THE ISSUE Entitlement to a rating in excess of 50 percent prior to December 1, 2008, and in excess of 70 percent thereafter for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). REPRESENTATION Veteran represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States WITNESS AT HEARINGS ON APPEAL The Veteran ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Brennae L. Brooks, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The Veteran served on active duty from September 1982 to September 1985. His awards and decorations include the Combat Action Ribbon. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in February 2009 by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran appeared at a hearing before a Decision Review Officer (DRO) in April 2010 and he testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in June 2012. Transcripts of both hearings have been associated with the record. In December 2012, the Board remanded the case for additional development and it now returns for further appellate review. The appeal is REMANDED to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). VA will notify the Veteran if further action is required. REMAND Although the Board regrets the additional delay, another remand is necessary to ensure that due process is followed and that there is a complete record upon which to decide the Veteran's claim so that he is afforded every possible consideration. 38 U.S.C. § 5103A (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.159 (2017). In this regard, following the December 2012 remand, additional evidence, to include July 2014 VA treatment records and a June 2017 VA examination report, reflects that the Veteran is in receipt of disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). Consequently, as such records may be relevant to the instant claim, a remand is necessary in order to obtain any determination pertinent to the Veteran's claim for SSA benefits, as well as any medical records relied upon concerning that claim. Murincsak v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 363 (1992) (where VA has actual notice of the existence of records held by SSA which appear relevant to a pending claim, VA has a duty to assist by requesting those records from SSA). Accordingly, on remand, the Veteran's complete SSA records, including all administrative decision(s) on his application for SSA disability benefits and all underlying medical records, should be obtained on remand. Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Any determination pertinent to the Veteran's claim for SSA benefits, as well as any medical records relied upon concerning that claim, should be obtained from SSA and associated with the claims file. All reasonable attempts should be made to obtain such records. If any records cannot be obtained after reasonable efforts have been made, issue a formal determination that such records do not exist or that further efforts to obtain such records would be futile, which should be documented in the claims file. The Veteran must be notified of the attempts made and why further attempts would be futile, and allowed the opportunity to provide such records, as provided in 38 U.S.C. § 5103A (b)(2) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e). 2. After completing the above actions, to include any other development as may be indicated by any response received as a consequence of the actions taken in the preceding paragraph, the Veteran's claim should be readjudicated based on the entirety of the evidence. If the claim remains denied, the Veteran and his representative should be issued a supplemental statement of the case. An appropriate period of time should be allowed for response. Thereafter, the case should be returned to the Board for further appellate consideration, if otherwise in order. The Board intimates no opinion as to the outcome of this case. The Veteran need take no action until so informed. The purpose of this REMAND is to ensure compliance with due process considerations. 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 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. §§ 5109B, 7112 (2012). _________________________________________________ A. JAEGER Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C. § 7252 (2012), 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) (2017).