Citation Nr: 19121069
Decision Date: 03/21/19	Archive Date: 03/21/19

DOCKET NO. 18-31 368
DATE:	March 21, 2019

ORDER

The appeal for entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran died on February [Redacted], 2019.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this claim at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2018); but see Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-389, § 212, 122 Stat. 4145, 4151 (2008).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran had active service from October 1965 to July 1969.

This matter came to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Louis, Missouri.

Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal.  As a matter of law, an appellant’s claim does 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 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 (2018); see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(a) (2018).  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 no later than a year from the date of the appellant’s death.  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b).

 

L. CHU

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. J. In, Counsel