Citation Nr: 18158974
Decision Date: 12/19/18	Archive Date: 12/18/18

DOCKET NO. 17-00 274
DATE:	December 19, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
The claim of entitlement to an award of TDIU is rendered moot by virtue of the 100 percent schedular rating for generalized anxiety disorder.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Entitlement to TDIU is moot.  38 U.S.C. § 1155 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (2017). 
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Air Force from April 1988 to January 1995.  This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of a June 2016 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Buffalo, New York.

Entitlement to TDIU
At the outset the Board notes that the Veteran is claiming TDIU based solely on his unspecified anxiety disorder with PTSD features, depressive disorder, neurocognitive disorder, alcohol use disorder.  While the veteran is rated 60 percent disabling for his hiatal hernia, the crux of his claim is that he has not been able to work due to his anxiety, depression, memory impairment, and neurocognitive disorder, not his hiatal hernia.  
The Veteran’s claim of entitlement to a TDIU has been rendered moot by the award of a 100 percent schedular evaluation for PTSD beginning March 10, 2016. See Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280 (2008). 
The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) has recognized that a 100 percent rating under the Schedule for Rating Disabilities means that a Veteran is totally disabled.  Holland v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 443, 446 (1994), citing Swan v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 20, 22 (1990).  Thus, if VA has found a veteran to be totally disabled as a result of a particular service-connected disability or combination of disabilities pursuant to the rating schedule, there is no need, and no authority, to otherwise rate that veteran totally disabled on any other basis.  See Herlehy v. Principi, 15 Vet. App. 33, 35 (2001) (finding a request for TDIU moot where 100 percent schedular rating was awarded for the same period). 
However, a grant of a 100 percent disability does not always render the issue of TDIU moot.  As is potentially relevant here, VA’s duty to maximize a claimant’s benefits includes consideration of whether his disabilities establishes entitlement to special monthly compensation (SMC) under 38 U.S.C. § 1114. See Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250 (2011); Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280, 294 (2008).  Specifically, SMC may be warranted if the Veteran has a 100 percent disability rating for a single disability, and VA finds that TDIU is warranted based solely on the disabilities other than the disability that is rated at 100 percent.  See Bradley, 22 Vet. App. 280 (analyzing 38 U.S.C. § 1114 (s)); See also 75 Fed. Reg. 11, 229-04 (March 10, 2010) (withdrawing VAOPGCPREC 6-1999). 
Here, a June 2016 RO rating decision granted Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) under 38 U.S.C. § 1114 (s), effective April 29, 2016 based on his 100 percent schedular rating of unspecified anxiety disorder with PTSD features, depressive disorder, neurocognitive disorder, alcohol use disorder and hiatal hernia with gastroesophageal reflux disease independently rated at 60 percent.
Accordingly, the grant of a 100 percent rating for the Veteran’s service connected unspecified anxiety disorder with PTSD features, depressive disorder, neurocognitive disorder, alcohol use disorder and SMC on account of gastroesophageal reflux disease independently rated at 60 percent renders the issue of entitlement to TDIU moot.  Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280, 293 (2008); see also Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242 (2010).
As there remains no case or controversy concerning whether the Veteran is entitled to the benefit sought, the appeal of the claim for TDIU is moot and must be dismissed.  Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426 (1994).

 
T. REYNOLDS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Dion Roberts, Law Clerk