Citation Nr: 18148063
Decision Date: 11/06/18	Archive Date: 11/06/18

DOCKET NO. 16-24 211
DATE:	November 6, 2018
ORDER
Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for arthritis is dismissed.
Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for bilateral cataracts is dismissed.
Entitlement to service connection for a condition manifested by body weakness is dismissed.
Entitlement to service connection for prostate disease is dismissed.
Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for urinary tract infection is dismissed.
Entitlement to an evaluation greater than 30 percent for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is dismissed.
Entitlement to a compensable evaluation for a healed forehead scar residual of shrapnel wound injury is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran died in June 2017, before a decision by the Board was promulgated on the appeal.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the claims.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302. 
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran had active service from May 1945 to February 1946.  These matters are on appeal from an August 2015 rating decision.
1. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for arthritis.
2. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for bilateral cataracts.
3. Entitlement to service connection for a condition manifested by body weakness.
4. Entitlement to service connection for prostate disease.
5. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted sufficient to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for urinary tract infection.
6. Entitlement to an evaluation greater than 30 percent for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
7. Entitlement to a compensable evaluation for a healed forehead scar residual of shrapnel wound injury.
The record reflects that he Veteran passed away in June 2017.  As a matter of law, appellants’ claims do not survive their deaths. Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F. 3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996).  The Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal. Therefore, his appeal is moot by virtue of his death, and the Board must dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.  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.
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 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (b).  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; see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (a).  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. 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (b).
 
DAVID L. WIGHT
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	R. R. Watkins, Counsel