Citation Nr: 21075992
Decision Date: 12/22/21	Archive Date: 12/22/21

DOCKET NO. 15-10 136A
DATE: December 22, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to payment or reimbursement of beneficiary travel expenses for VA special mode transportation from 2014 to August 2017 is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active duty in the Army from September 1967 to June 1970 and March 1978 to September 1979.

The issue is on appeal from a July 2014 decision by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ), Syracuse VA Medical Center (VAMC).  The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) last remanded the case for additional development and readjudication in September 2021.

The Board instructed the AOJ to obtain appellate documents that were no longer of record (although they were before the Board as of July 2018).  The appellate documents include the July 2014 decision, notice of disagreement, January 2015 statement of the case, and substantive appeal.  The AOJ was instructed to obtain the missing documents or issue a formal finding indicating that these documents could not be obtained.  The claims file does not indicate substantial compliance with the remand instructions as the appellate documents were not found and/or associated with the record, the AOJ did not attempt to locate the documents, nor did the AOJ issue a formal finding that the documents were missing.  See Stegall 

v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998).

As evidence of the Veteran's claim is relevant to the claim for reimbursement, remand to obtain and associate these documents with the claims file along with any other pertinent administrative documents is needed to cure this duty to assist error.  38 C.F.R. § 3.159.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain and associate with the claims file any relevant records for the Veteran's original claim, to include a copy of the Veteran's claim for VA special mode of transportation benefits, the July 2014 decision, the notice of disagreement, the January 2015 statement of the case, and the substantive appeal.

All attempts to secure these VA records and any response received must be documented in the claims file.  If the appellate documents cannot be found, a response to that effect is required and should be documented in the file.  The Veteran must be notified and afforded an opportunity to respond.

2. Readjudicate the appeal.

 

 

L. M. BARNARD

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Lee

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.