Citation Nr: 18158558
Decision Date: 12/18/18	Archive Date: 12/17/18

DOCKET NO. 17-65 411
DATE:	December 18, 2018



ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
In December 2018, the Board received notification that the Veteran died in September 2018.
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); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.



REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from July 1982 to July 1986.  This matter is on appeal of a June 2017 rating decision.  
The Board remanded the appeal for further development in June 2018.  In August 2018, in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7109 and 38 C.F.R. § 20.901, the Board requested a medical expert opinion from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  The Veteran died while the request for an opinion was pending.  
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.  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).  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 (listed on the first page of this decision).  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b).
 
M. SORISIO
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	L. Wells-Green