Citation Nr: 23014707 Decision Date: 03/10/23 Archive Date: 03/10/23 DOCKET NO. 20-13 484 DATE: March 10, 2023 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, is dismissed. FINDING OF FACT 1. The issue of service connection for bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, was denied in a November 2012 rating decision; the Veteran filed to appeal this denial in a November 2012 Notice of Disagreement; a Statement of the Case was issued, and the Veteran timely perfected his appeal of this issue with a November 2015 VA Form 9: Appeal to the Board of Veteran's Appeals (VA Form 9). 2. In April 2022, the Board remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy to the Regional Office (RO) for further development; these issues are currently before the RO pending final development and adjudication. 3. While the above issue was pending, the issue of service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, was denied in a September 2017 rating decision; the Veteran filed to appeal this denial in an October 2017 Notice of Disagreement; a Statement of the Case was issued, and the Veteran timely perfected his appeal with a March 2020 VA Form 9; this issue is now before the Board. 4. These issues, while initiated from separate rating decisions and are valid procedurally, substantively address the same issue. As such, the Board will dismiss the duplicate docketed appeal. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for dismissal of entitlement to service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 19.55. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1965 to June 1968. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2017 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office. 1. Entitlement to service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, is dismissed. As stated above, the issue of service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, and the issue of service connection for bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, are substantively the same as they both address the same issue. Therefore, the later docketed appeal must be dismissed. In February 2011, the Veteran filed a claim for service connection which included (but was not limited to), service connection for an ankle condition, finger condition, urinary and bowel condition, and loss of equilibrium. These claims were denied in a November 2012 rating decision. In his November 2012 Notice of Disagreement, the Veteran stated that he wished for these claims to be combined and recharacterized as a claim to service connect upper and lower bilateral peripheral neuropathy as due to herbicide exposure. VA subsequently recharacterized these issues pursuant to the Veteran's request. See November 2015 Statement of the Case; August 2022 Board Decision. While the Veteran's claim for bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, was pending, the Veteran separately filed to service connect right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as due to herbicide exposure, in August 2017. This claim was denied in September 2017, timely appealed in an October 2017 Notice of Disagreement and perfected with a March 2020 VA Form 9. This then created two separate appeal streams in the Veteran's case: the original appeal stream which includes the issue of entitlement to service connection for bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, and the newer appeal stream limited to entitlement to service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy. The Board finds that these two appeal streams substantively address the same issue: bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy includes peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity. As such, the Board finds that judicial economy warrants the dismissal of the appeal arising from the September 2017 rating decision because the appeals are functionally the same. (Continued on the next page) As noted above, the issue of service connection for bilateral upper and lower peripheral neuropathy as due to herbicide exposure has already been remanded by the Board in the April 2022 Board decision and as such, is before the RO for final development. For administrative convenience, the Board has decided to dismiss the appeal arising from the September 2017 rating decision. The Board's decision does not disadvantage the Veteran, as the Board will adjudicate the issue of service connection for upper AND lower extremity peripheral neuropathy once the April 2022 Board remand directives are satisfied, should there not be a full grant of the benefits sought at that time. LESLEY A. REIN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Breslin, Jenna D. 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.