Citation Nr: 21021211
Decision Date: 04/12/21	Archive Date: 04/12/21

DOCKET NO. 15-37 669
DATE: April 12, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for a back disability is dismissed.

Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected keloid scars of the neck and ear is dismissed.

Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected hemorrhoids is dismissed.

Entitlement to an effective date earlier than January 17, 2018, for the grant of service connection for cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure, is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

On March 26, 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) first received notification that the Veteran passed away on March 26, 2021.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the Veteran’s death, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the appeal at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from June 1979 through June 1994.  In September 2019, the VA Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) remanded to the VA Regional Office (RO) the issues of entitlement to service connection for a back disability and entitlement to increased ratings for service-connected keloid scars of the neck and ear and hemorrhoids for additional development.  The claims file has been returned to the Board, with the issue of entitlement to an effective date earlier than January 17, 2018, for the grant of service connection for cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure, for adjudication.

Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal.  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 issues on appeal, entitlement to service connection for a back disability, entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected keloid scars of the neck and ear, entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected hemorrhoids, and entitlement to an effective date earlier than January 17, 2018, for the grant of service connection for cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure, have become moot by virtue of the Veteran’s death 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 the appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1106.  

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The Board’s dismissal of the 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 Veteran’s death.  See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (b).

 

 

P.M. DILORENZO

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Department of Veterans Affairs

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.