Citation Nr: 20042889
Decision Date: 06/25/20	Archive Date: 06/25/20

DOCKET NO. 11-20 052
DATE: June 25, 2020

ORDER

The appeal pertaining to the issue of entitlement to service connection for gastrointestinal disorder, claimed as ulcerative colitis, is dismissed.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The entirety of the Veteran’s gastrointestinal symptoms have been attributed to a diagnosis of chronic constipation.

2. In a rating decision issued in December 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Appeals Management Center (AMC) granted service connection for chronic constipation, which constitutes a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

As there is no justiciable case or controversy with respect to the claim of service connection for gastrointestinal disorder, claimed as ulcerative colitis, the Veteran’s appeal as to such issue is moot.  38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 20.104.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1963 to June 1964. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in September 2008 by a VA Regional Office.  

In February 2016, the Veteran and his son testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  A hearing transcript has been associated with the record.  In February 2010, the Board remanded the claim for the issuance of a statement of the case and, thereafter, the Veteran perfected his appeal.  In May 2016 and September 2017, the Board remanded the case for additional development.  

Entitlement to service connection for a gastrointestinal disorder other than chronic constipation.

Under 38 U.S.C. § 7105, the Board may dismiss any appeal which fails to allege specific error of fact or law in the determination being appealed.  See e.g., 38 C.F.R. § 20.104.  In essence, a “case or controversy” involving a pending adverse determination to which the appellant has taken exception no longer exists.  See Shoen v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 456, 457 (1994).  

By way of background, while the Veteran originally claimed service connection for ulcerative colitis, the September 2017 Board decision recharacterized the issue on appeal as entitlement to service connection for a gastrointestinal disorder because of the absence of a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis.  In this respect, following examination of the Veteran in November 2016, a VA physician attributed all of the Veteran’s gastrointestinal symptoms to a diagnosis of chronic constipation.  Following the Board’s remand of the instant claim in September 2017, the VA AMC granted service connection for chronic constipation in a rating decision issued in December 2017 and notified the Veteran that such was full and final determination as to the matter on appeal.

Given the above, the Board finds such award resulted in a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal, and the Veteran has not initiated an appeal with respect to any part of the decision.  See Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156, 1158-59 (Fed. Cir. 1997); Baughman v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 563, 566 (1991).  Consequently, there is no longer a pending adverse determination for the Board to adjudicate.  Accordingly, the claim of entitlement to service connection for a gastrointestinal disorder, claimed as ulcerative colitis, is moot and the appeal must be dismissed.

 

 

A. JAEGER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	M. M. Celli, 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.