Citation Nr: 21002911 Decision Date: 01/19/21 Archive Date: 01/19/21 DOCKET NO. 15-32 438 DATE: January 19, 2021 REMANDED 1. Entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease, claimed as due to exposure to Agent Orange, is remanded. 2. Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from February 1966 to December 1969. He died in March 2014, and the appellant is his surviving spouse. She has been substituted as the claimant for the purpose of processing the Veteran’s claim of service connection for Parkinson’s disease to completion. This case is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rating decisions in September 2013 (denying service connection for Parkinson’s disease) and July 2014 (denying service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death). A July 2016 videoconference hearing was held before the undersigned. A September 2018 Board decision denied the appellant service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, and she appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). In an August 2020 Order, the CAVC granted an August 2020 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) of the parties, thereby vacating the Board’s decision and remanding the matter to the Board for action consistent with the JMR. 1. Entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease, claimed as due to exposure to Agent Orange. The parties to the August 2020 JMR agreed that the Board decision of September 2018 had not addressed the Veteran’s pending claim of service connection for Parkinson’s disease or the appellant’s request for substitution. Regarding the substitution matter, it was noted that she had filed a VA Form 21-534, Application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, Death Pension, and Accrued Benefits, in the month following the Veteran’s death and that such a filing may be deemed a request to substitute as the claimant for the purpose of processing the Veteran’s claim to completion. In a January 2021 letter to the appellant, the VA recognized the appellant as a substitute claimant. As to the Parkinson’s disease matter, in September 2012 the Veteran filed a claim of service connection on a presumptive basis through exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange). A September 2013 rating decision denied service connection for Parkinson’s disease. He died in March 2014, and in April 2014 the appellant filed VA Form 21-534, claiming the cause of the Veteran’s death (attributable in part to Parkinson’s disease) was related to service. The appellant’s April 2014 filing has been construed as a notice of disagreement (NOD) with the September 2013 RO rating decision. The filing of a NOD (in the VA’s legacy system) signals the initiation of an appeal in a claim. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.20, 19.21. When there has been adjudication by the RO and a timely NOD has been filed, a statement of the case (SOC) addressing the issue must be furnished to the appellant. Manlincon v. West, 12 Vet. App. 238 (1999). The substitute claimant in this matter, the appellant, has not been issued a SOC. 2. Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death. Consideration of the cause of death claim is deferred pending further development of the Parkinson’s disease claim, as they are inextricably intertwined. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Issue the appellant an SOC addressing service connection for Parkinson’s disease, claimed as due to exposure to Agent Orange. Advise her that to perfect an appeal to the Board in this matter, she must timely file a substantive appeal after issuance of the SOC. If that occurs, return the matter to the Board. George R. Senyk Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Debbie Breitbeil, 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.