Citation Nr: 21040770
Decision Date: 07/06/21	Archive Date: 07/06/21

DOCKET NO. 17-01 904
DATE: July 6, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity is dismissed as moot.

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the left upper extremity is dismissed as moot.

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity is dismissed as moot.

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity is dismissed as moot.

FINDING OF FACT

A July 2020 rating decision granted service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and bilateral lower extremities.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The Board lacks jurisdiction over the claims for service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities and bilateral lower extremities because the claims have been granted and rendered moot.  38 U.S.C. § 7105 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.202 (2020).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from March 1968 to December 1969, including service in the Republic of Vietnam.

These matters initially came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2014 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In December 2018, the Board remanded the Veteran's appeal to the RO for further evidentiary development.

In August 2020, the Veteran submitted a VA Form 10182, Decision Review Request form that opted his claim for total disability based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) into the Appeals Modernization Act system.  As such, the appeal for TDIU will be addressed in a separate decision under the Appeals Modernization Act framework.

Service Connection

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity, left upper extremity, right lower extremity, and left lower extremity

As noted above, these claims were remanded for further development in a December 2018 rating decision.  A July 2020 rating decision granted service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity, left upper extremity, right lower extremity, and left lower extremity.

As a general matter, the grant of a claim of service connection constitutes an award of full benefits sought on an appeal of the denial of a service connection claim.  Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (where an appealed claim for service connection is granted during the pendency of the appeal, a second Notice of Disagreement must thereafter be timely filed to initiate appellate review of "downstream" issues such as the compensation level assigned for the disability or the effective date of service connection).

The Board may dismiss any appeal which fails to identify the specific determination with which the claimant disagrees.  38 U.S.C. § 7105(d); 38 C.F.R. § 20.202(a).  Here, as a result of the RO's actions, there is no determination with which the Veteran disagrees with regard to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and bilateral lower extremities because the claims for those benefits have been granted.  Therefore, the Board lacks jurisdiction over these four claims.

 

 

Jonathan Hager

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	R. Dean, Associate 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.