Citation Nr: 18149601
Decision Date: 11/09/18	Archive Date: 11/09/18

DOCKET NO. 17-36 016A
DATE:	November 9, 2018
ORDER
The appeal with respect to entitlement to service connection for thrombocytosis, also claimed as weight loss, weakness, and lightheadedness, is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran died in November 2018, while the present appeal was pending.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from October 1984 to July 1991, to include service in Southwest Asia from August 1990 to March 1991.  
This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2013 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Unfortunately, the Veteran passed away in November 2018, while the present appeal was pending.  As a matter of law, appellants’ claims do not survive their deaths.  See 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 weakness, and lightheadedness, death of the Veteran and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302. 
In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran.  See 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 Veteran’s death.  See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b); 79 Fed. Reg. 52,977, 52,982.  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.  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b).
 
DAVID A. BRENNINGMEYER
Acting Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	D.S. Chilcote, Associate Counsel