Citation Nr: A25057504
Decision Date: 07/03/25	Archive Date: 07/03/25

DOCKET NO. 200609-449500
DATE: July 3, 2025

ORDER

The appeal as to entitlement to the direct payment of attorney fees based on the past-due benefits awarded in the May 2020 rating decision is dismissed. 

FINDING OF FACT

In October 2020, the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) processed and completed the payment of attorney fees based on past-due benefits awarded in the May 2020 rating decision, based upon an updated July 2020 fee decision. 

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for dismissal of the appeal as to the direct payment of attorney fees based on the past-due benefits awarded in the May 2020 rating decision have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 20.205.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from November 1986 to January 2015. 

The appellant is the Veteran's attorney representative. The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) notes that he does not represent the Veteran in this simultaneously contested claim. 

The matter comes before the Board on appeal from a June 2020 fee decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 

In the June 2020 VA Form 10182, Decision Review Request: Board Appeal (Notice of Disagreement (NOD)), the appellant elected the Hearing docket. The Veteran did not elect to change the docket. In September 2024 and December 2024, the appellant withdrew the hearing request. 

By way of procedural background, a May 2020 rating decision granted service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and assigned an initial 30 percent rating effective January 29, 2015. In a June 2020 fee decision, the AOJ found that while the appellant was entitled to the direct payment of attorney fees based on the past-due benefits awarded in the May 2020 rating decision the decision did not result in a retroactive cash payment due to retirement pay withholding. The appellant filed the instant appeal in June 2020. Thereafter, the AOJ issued an updated fee decision in July 2020, finding that the amount of past-due benefits awarded in the May 2020 rating decision was $37,412.55, and awarding the appellant the direct payment of fees in the amount of $7,382.51 (20 percent of the past-due benefits). A VA Form 10182 was not filed as to July 2020 fee decision. A subsequent October 2020 internal document shows that the AOJ processed and released payment of attorney fees to the appellant in the amount of $7,382.51. 

Accordingly, the Board finds that the underlying issue of fees has been rendered moot by the AOJ's issuance of the amended July 2020 fee decision and October 2020 payment in full of the fees due to the appellant. 

?

As the underlying dispute has been resolved and there remain no allegations of error of law or fact for appellate consideration, the present appeal is dismissed as a matter of law. See 38 U.S.C. § 7105; Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994).

 

 

Nathaniel J. Doan

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	C. Robinson

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.