Citation Nr: 18150995
Decision Date: 11/19/18	Archive Date: 11/16/18

DOCKET NO. 16-26 570
DATE:	November 19, 2018
ORDER
The appeal as to the issue of entitlement to an effective date earlier than April 5, 2014 for the award of a TDIU is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The issue of entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 20, 1997 for the award of a total disability rating based upon individual unemployability (TDIU) was previously adjudicated by a February 2004 Board decision. That decision was not appealed and is final.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The issue of entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 20, 1997 for the award of a TDIU, having been previously adjudicated by the Board in a final decision, is dismissed. 38 U.S.C. §§ 7103, 7104(b), 7105; 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.1000, 20.1100.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from April 1965 to July 1969.  He served in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal.
In July 2017, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) at a Board videoconference hearing. A hearing transcript is of record. 
Effective Date
The Veteran’s claim for entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 20, 1997 for the award of a TDIU was previously before the Board in February 2004. At that time, the Board denied the Veteran’s earlier effective date claim, to include whether an October 27, 1970 VA rating decision contained clear and unmistakable error. The Veteran did not appeal the February 2004 Board decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), nor did he file a motion for reconsideration. As such, that decision is final.
Because the Board’s February 2004 decision is determinative, as a matter of law, that the evidence did not show entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 20, 1997 for the award of a TDIU, the Veteran is collaterally estopped from relitigating the same issue. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.1000, 20.1100. See Hazan v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 511, 520-21 (1997) (holding where an unappealed final decision is determinative of an issue, a Veteran is collaterally estopped from relitigating the same issue based upon the same evidence). 
 
The Board may dismiss any appeal which fails to allege specific error of fact or law in the determination being appealed. 38 U.S.C. § 7105. In the present case, there remain no allegations of errors of fact or law for appellate consideration. Accordingly, the Board does not have jurisdiction to review the appeal for an effective date earlier than August 20, 1997 for the award of a TDIU, and the appeal is dismissed.
 
K. PARAKKAL
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	R. Williams, Counsel