Citation Nr: 18157778
Decision Date: 12/13/18	Archive Date: 12/13/18

DOCKET NO. 17-04 379
DATE:	December 13, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to an initial disability rating greater than 20 percent for service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with unfavorable ankylosis of the entire thoracolumbar spine, due to fixed increased thoracic kyphosis from Parkinson's Disease, prior to April 15, 2013 and from June 1, 2013 to December 8, 2015; and greater than 50 percent, thereafter, is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
In November 2018, VA was notified that the Veteran died earlier in that month.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Because of the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal.  38 U.S.C. § 5121A, 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran had active service from September 1983 to September 2006.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2013 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Regional Office (RO), in Columbia, South Carolina.
Entitlement to an initial disability rating greater than 20 percent for service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with unfavorable ankylosis of the entire thoracolumbar spine due to fixed increased thoracic kyphosis from Parkinson's Disease prior to April 15, 2013; and from June 1, 2013, to December 8, 2015; and greater than 50 percent thereafter.
Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of this 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 appellant 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.  Such request must be filed not later than one year after the date of the appellant’s death.  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.  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.  Id. 


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L. B. CRYAN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	D. Orfanoudis, Counsel