14-23 932

• Court: Board of Veterans' Appeals
• Decided: July 26, 2018
• Docket: 14-23 932
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Citation Nr: 1829734 Decision Date: 07/26/18 Archive Date: 08/02/18

DOCKET NO. 14-23 932 ) DATE ) )

On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to an effective date prior to June 17, 2010, for the award of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Matthew D. Hill, Attorney

INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served in active service from December 1969 to February 1972. This appeal comes before the Board of Veterans Appeals from a March 2012 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida, which awarded service connection for PTSD.

FINDING OF FACT

In April 2018, the Board was notified by way of a Social Security Administration report that the Veteran died in February 2018.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (2014); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal. As a matter of law, the Veteran's claim does not survive his death. 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). This appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the Veteran and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (20142); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017). In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1106 (2017).

The Board's dismissal of this 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 (West 2014); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b) (2017). A person eligible for substitution includes "a living person who would be eligible to receive accrued benefits due to the claimant under section 5121(a) of this title ...." 38 U.S.C. § 5121A (20142); see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(a) (2017). An eligible party seeking substitution in an appeal that has been dismissed by the Board due to the death of the claimant should file a request for substitution with the VA office from which the claim originated. 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b) (2017).

ORDER

The appeal related to the appropriate effective date for the award of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is dismissed.

MICHAEL E. KILCOYNE Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals

Department of Veterans Affairs