Citation Nr: 21002868 Decision Date: 01/19/21 Archive Date: 01/19/21 DOCKET NO. 14-23 418 DATE: January 19, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea to include as secondary to chronic pain from service–connected disabilities is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1991 to December 1995. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2012 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In August 2018, the case was remanded for further development. 1. Entitlement to service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is remanded. 2. Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea to include as secondary to chronic pain from service–connected disabilities is remanded. 3. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus is remanded. While the Board regrets further delay, the Veteran’s claims of entitlement to service connection for COPD, sleep apnea, and diabetes mellitus must be remanded. The Veteran is entitled to representation at all stages of an appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.600. Here, the Veteran appointed the State of Georgia Department of Veterans Service as his representative. See September 1999 VA 21-22 Appointment of Veterans Service Organization as Claimant Representative. Subsequently, the Veteran additionally appointed an attorney but limited the scope of his attorney’s representation to psychiatric disability claims only. See June 2014 VA Form 21-22a Power of Attorney. In November 2020 third party correspondence, the Veteran’s attorney formally withdrew his limited representation, In that correspondence, he also noted the receipt of an October 2020 Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) relative to the three service connection claims on appeal herein; claims for which he did not represent the Veteran. The Board notes that the RO erroneously sent correspondence dated November 2020 to the State of Georgia Department of Veteran Service indicating that their representation had been revoked effective June 2014. The Veteran did not receive a copy of that correspondence. Since the June 2014 VA Form 21-22a Power of Attorney limited the scope of the attorney appointment, it did not revoke the appointment of the State of Georgia Department of Veteran Service as the Veteran’s representative for the claims now on appeal. However, since the SSOC was issued to the wrong representative, the Board must remand the claim back to the RO for purposes of providing the Veteran’s current representative (State of Georgia Department of Veteran Service) with a copy of the October 2020 SSOC to cure the procedural defect. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Provide the Veteran’s representative (State of Georgia Department of Veteran Service) a copy of the October 2020 SSOC and allow a period of time for a response. If there is no response or the response provided reflects continued disagreement with the findings in the SSOC, then the case should be returned to the Board. Jennifer White Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Alexander 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.