Citation Nr: 21025488
Decision Date: 04/28/21	Archive Date: 04/28/21

DOCKET NO. 20-14 554
DATE: April 28, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to an effective date earlier than September 9, 2015, for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss, is dismissed as moot.

Entitlement to an effective date earlier than September 9, 2015, for the grant of service connection for tinnitus, is dismissed as moot.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The grant of the Veteran’s 2017 CUE motion as addressed in a separate Board decision results in the earliest possible effective date for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, and thus renders moot the current separate appeal alleging CUE in the January 2018 rating decision that awarded service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus and assigned effective dates of September 9, 2015.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The claim of entitlement to an effective date earlier than September 9, 2015, for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss is dismissed as moot. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1155, 7104(a), 7105(d)(5).

2. The claim of entitlement to an effective date earlier than September 9, 2015, for the grant of service connection for tinnitus is dismissed as moot. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1155, 7104(a), 7105(d)(5).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The Veteran served on active duty from February 1966 to January 1969. 

In February 2021, the appellant testified during a Board virtual hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of that hearing is of record. Notably, in an April 2021 statement, the Veteran stated that it appears he was inadvertently scheduled for an additional hearing in June 2021, however, he requested cancellation of the scheduled hearing. Therefore, the Board will proceed with the appeal. 

As issued in a separate decision, as the Board determined that the original November 1979 Board decision contained CUE and the effective dates the Veteran seeks has been granted under that theory, the separate claim of entitlement to an earlier effective date for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus is rendered moot. See Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). This dismissal is without prejudice to the Veteran’s right to appeal the rating decision implementing the grant of CUE, including the assignment of a disability rating during the newly relevant time period (1978 to 2015).

 

 

D. Martz Ames

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Sarah Campbell, 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.