Citation Nr: 21000242
Decision Date: 01/04/21	Archive Date: 01/04/21

DOCKET NO. 17-52 263
DATE: January 4, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder is dismissed.

Entitlement to service connection for rhinitis is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran died in November 2020.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the death of the appellant, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from November 1970 to September 1972.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2017 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

The Board remanded the claims on appeal in April 2019 for additional development. 

Service connection claims.

Unfortunately, the appellant died during the pendency of the 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 on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the appellant 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.  Such request must be filed no later than one year after the date of the appellant’s death.  See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b).

 

 

C. CRAWFORD

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	E. Mortimer, 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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.