Citation Nr: 21001367
Decision Date: 01/07/21	Archive Date: 01/07/21

DOCKET NO. 190425-6376
DATE: January 7, 2021

ORDER

The appeal of service connection for a left hip condition is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran, who is the appellant, passed away on February 8, 2020.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the death of the appellant, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the appeal of service connection for a left hip condition. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served honorably from August 1955 to August 1957.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2018 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In April 2019, the Veteran filed a notice of disagreement selecting direct review by the Board.

A decision on the merits was issued by the Board in June 2019, to which the Veteran filed a notice of appeal to the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). Unfortunately, the appellant died while his appeal was pending before the Court, prompting an August 2020 Court order vacating the Board’s June 2019 decision and dismissing the appeal at the Court. In turn, the Veteran’s appeal of the June 2018 rating decision’s denial of service connection for a left hip condition arrives back to the Board.

In the same manner that the Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the Veteran’s appeal of the Board decision, so too does the Board lack jurisdiction to adjudicate the Veteran’s appeal of the rating decision. 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). The appeal of the June 2018 rating decision has thus become moot by virtue of the death of the appellant, which deprives the Board of jurisdiction to adjudicate the claim. 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. 

 

K. Parakkal

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.