Citation Nr: 18155642
Decision Date: 12/04/18	Archive Date: 12/04/18

DOCKET NO. 16-30 015
DATE:	December 4, 2018
ORDER
The appeal with respect to entitlement to a rating in excess of 30 percent for laceration of the left forearm with ulnar neuropathy is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran died in November 2018, while the present appeal was pending.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Because of the Veteran’s death, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from January 1975 to December 1977.
This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2013 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in Huntington, West Virginia.
The appeal with respect to entitlement to a rating in excess of 30 percent for laceration of the left forearm with ulnar neuropathy is dismissed.
Unfortunately, the Veteran 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 Veteran and must be dismissed 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.  A request for substitution must be filed with the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) not later than one year after the date of the Veteran’s death.  38 C.F.R. §§3.1010 (b), 20.1302(a).  If the AOJ grants the request to substitute, the case will assume its original place on the Board’s docket.  38 C.F.R. §§ 20.1302 (a), 20.900(a)(2).
 
DAVID A. BRENNINGMEYER
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	R. Kettler, Associate Counsel