Citation Nr: 18145222
Decision Date: 10/26/18	Archive Date: 10/26/18

DOCKET NO. 18-15 626
DATE:	October 26, 2018
ORDER
The Veteran’s appeal seeking the reopening of a previously denied claim for entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease (claimed as heart disease) as secondary to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is dismissed.
The Veteran’s appeal seeking the reopening of a previously denied claim for entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus is dismissed.
The Veteran’s appeal seeking the reopening of a previously denied claim for entitlement to service connection for PTSD is dismissed.
The Veteran’s appeal seeking entitlement to an evaluation in excess of 30 percent for service-connected osteochondroma, left tibia and chondromalacia, left knee with patellectomy is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
On September 5, 2018, the VA was notified that the appellant died on August [redacted], 2018. 
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Due to the death of the appellant, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (West 2015); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017). 
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from September 1953 to November 1956.
Unfortunately, the appellant 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 appellant and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (West 2015); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017).

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 (2017).  

The Board’s dismissal of this appeal does not affect the right of an eligible person to file a request to be substituted as the appellant for purposes of processing the claim to completion.  Such request must be filed not later than one year after the date of the appellant’s death.  See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A (West 2015); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b) (2017).  A person eligible for substitution includes “a living person who would be eligible to receive accrued benefits due to the claimant under section 5121(a) of this title ….”  38 U.S.C. § 5121A (West 2015); see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(a) (2017).  An eligible party seeking substitution in an appeal that has been dismissed by the Board due to the death of the claimant should file a request for substitution with the VA office from which the claim originated (listed on the first page of this decision).  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b) (2017). 


 
MICHELLE L. KANE
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	L. Durham, Counsel