Citation Nr: 21012463
Decision Date: 03/04/21	Archive Date: 03/04/21

DOCKET NO. 18-01 519
DATE: March 4, 2021

ORDER

The appeal as to service connection for an esophagus disability claimed as due to mustard gas exposure is dismissed.

The appeal as to service connection for a right-hand disability is dismissed.

The appeal as to service connection for hypertension is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran died in 2021 while this appeal was pending.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for dismissal of a claim for service connection for an esophagus disability, a right-hand disability and hypertension have been met.  38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 20.205.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran had active service from September 1972 to June 1973.

This matter was previously before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) in May 2019 when the Board remanded the appeal for further development. 

The issue of service connection for an esophagus disability, a right-hand disability and hypertension is dismissed.

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 Veteran 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 not 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).  A person eligible for substitution includes “a living person who would be eligible to receive accrued benefits due to the claimant under section 5121(a) of this title.”  38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (a). 

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An eligible party seeking substitution in an appeal that has been dismissed by the Board due to the death of the claimant should file a request for substitution with the VA office from which the claim originated.  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (b).

 

 

Vito A. Clementi

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	K. McDuffie, 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.