The Board dismissed the appeal because the appellant died during the pendency of the appeal and thus, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal.
The deciding factor: Due to the death of the appellant, the Board had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter’s syndrome
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2020
- Citation
- 20000283
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and systemic lupus erythematosus as there was no evidence of onset during active service or etiological relationship to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for rheumatoid arthritis, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor based on chronic symptoms shown during service and continuity of those symptoms since service.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for rheumatoid arthritis was dismissed due to a untimely notice of disagreement. The left knee disorder claim is remanded for further action.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an earlier effective date for the grant of a 70 percent rating for PTSD and granted an effective date of May 31, 2004, but no earlier, for the award of a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU).
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