Citation Nr: 18152395
Decision Date: 11/21/18	Archive Date: 11/21/18

DOCKET NO. 13-06 455A
DATE:	November 21, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a total evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from January 1958 to September 1961.
This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (the Board) on appeal from a July 2013 Decision Review Officer (DRO) decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Roanoke, Virginia, as part and parcel of the Veteran’s appeal for an increased initial evaluation for an acquired psychiatric disability.  
In a June 2015 decision, the Board, among other actions, denied the Veteran’s appeal seeking to establish TDIU.  The Veteran filed a motion for reconsideration that was denied by the Board in June 2016.  The Veteran subsequently appealed the Board’s June 2015 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In a June 2017 Order, the Court endorsed a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (Joint Motion) executed by an attorney representing the Veteran and VA’s office of General Counsel earlier that month, which vacated the portion of the June 2015 Board decision that denied entitlement to TDIU and remanded the issue back to the Board with guidance and instructions.  As stated in the Court-endorsed Joint Motion, the other issue denied by the Board in the June 2015 decision should not be disturbed, and thus, is no longer in appellate jurisdiction.  
Referred issue
As agreed by the parties in the June 2017 Joint Motion, the issue of entitlement to service connection for alcohol dependence, claimed as secondary to a service-connected acquired psychiatric disability has been raised by the record and remains unadjudicated by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ).  As the Board may not develop and adjudicate this issue in the first instance, this issue is referred to the AOJ for appropriate development and adjudication.  
1. Entitlement to TDIU is remanded.
In addition to concluding that the June 2015 Board decision had inadequately addressed how it was still feasible that the Veteran could obtain and maintain gainful employment despite his service-connected disabilities, as noted by the parties in the June 2017 Joint Motion and asserted by the Veteran’s private attorney in an October 2018 statement, the issue seeking to establish TDIU is intertwined with the issue that the Board has referred to the AOJ in the Introduction.  In light of above and at the request of the Veteran’s private attorney, the Board find that it must defer readjudication of the Veteran’s TDIU claim until the claim referred to the AOJ (in addition to any downstream appeal) has been finalized.
The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:
1. The AOJ must fully develop and adjudicate the Veteran’s claim to establish service connection for alcohol dependence, to include as secondary to a service-connected acquired psychiatric disability.  This includes any downstream appeal that may flow from this claim.
2. After the issue referred to the Board has been adjudicated to a final state, the AOJ must take any steps necessary to readjudicate the Veteran’s TDIU appeal, to include obtaining additional information concerning the Veteran’s educational and work history and/or requesting a supplemental opinion concerning the impact of the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities on his employability.
3. Thereafter, the AOJ must readjudicate the Veteran's pending issue in light of any additional evidence added to the record.  If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran and his representative should be furnished with a Supplemental Statement of the Case and be afforded the applicable opportunity to respond before the record is returned to the Board for further review.
 
 Michael J. Skaltsounis
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Scott W. Dale, Counsel