Citation Nr: 20021491
Decision Date: 03/26/20	Archive Date: 03/26/20

DOCKET NO. 15-04 486
DATE: March 26, 2020

ORDER

Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

On July 22, 2019, the Board was notified that the Veteran died in July 2019.

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) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2018).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from January 1963 to May 1970.  The Veteran died in July 2019.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2014 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

In a May 2018 decision, the Board denied the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for TDIU.  The Veteran appealed the Board’s May 2018 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In an April 2019 Order, the Court vacated the May 2018 Board decision, and remanded the matter to the Board for development consistent with an April 2019 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR). 

Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal.  As a matter of law, Veterans’ 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.  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.

(Continued on the next page)

 

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.  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; 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).

 

 

MICHAEL MARTIN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Saudiee Brown, Associate Counsel

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.