Citation Nr: 18158586
Decision Date: 12/18/18	Archive Date: 12/17/18

DOCKET NO. 17-26 870
DATE:	December 18, 2018
ORDER
The appeal is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran died in September 2018, during the pendency of this appeal.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Because of the Veteran’s death, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this claim at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302; but see 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1010, 20.1302.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from July 1979 to March 1982.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from May 2015 rating decision regarding a perfected appeal for an increased evaluation for service-connected chronic otitis media and a June 2015 rating decision regarding a perfected appeal for service connection for migraine headaches.  
Unfortunately, the Veteran died in September 2018, 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 therefore has become moot by virtue of the Veteran’s death and accordingly 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 this claim to completion. See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1010, 20.1302.
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A request for substitution must be filed with the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) not later than one year after the date of the appellant’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).
 
Paul Sorisio
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	P. López, Associate Counsel