Citation Nr: 1413863
Decision Date: 03/31/14 Archive Date: 04/10/14
DOCKET NO. 10-24 408 ) DATE
)
On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Muskogee, Oklahoma
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to service connection for tuberculosis.
REPRESENTATION
Veteran represented by: Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A.
WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL
The Veteran and his spouse
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
Ryan P. Connally, General Attorney
INTRODUCTION
The Veteran served on active duty from August 1980 to September 1984 and from October 1985 to October 2001.
This matter was originally before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2008 decision of the Muskogee, Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In July 2011, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before an Acting Veterans Law Judge (AVLJ). In December 2011, the Board issued a decision that, in part, denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for tuberculosis.
ORDER TO VACATE
The Board may vacate an appellate decision at any time upon request of the appellant or his or her representative, or on the Board's own motion, when an appellant has been denied due process of law. 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.904 (2013).
In September 2013, pursuant to a settlement agreement in the case of National Org. of Veterans' Advocates, Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 725 F.3d 1312 (Fed. Cir. 2013), the Board sent the Veteran a letter notifying him of an opportunity to receive a new decision from the Board that would correct any potential due process error relating to the duties of the AVLJ that conducted the July 2011 hearing. See Bryant v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 488 (2010) (holding that the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(c)(2) apply to a hearing before the Board and that a VLJ has a duty to explain fully the issues and to suggest the submission of evidence that may have been overlooked). In October 2013, the Veteran responded that he wished to have the prior decision vacated and a new one issued in its place.
Accordingly, the portion of the December 2011 Board decision that denied entitlement to service connection for tuberculosis is vacated. The remainder of the December 2011 Board decision remains undisturbed.
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D. C. SPICKLER
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals