Citation Nr: 18124088 Decision Date: 08/06/18 Archive Date: 08/03/18 DOCKET NO. 15-27 375A DATE: August 6, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 10 percent prior to January 23, 2015, and in excess of 20 percent since then for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy is dismissed. Entitlement to an effective date prior to January 23, 2015 for the grant of a 20 percent rating for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy is dismissed. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. While the Veteran’s claim was in appellate status, a December 2015 Board decision decided the claim for entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 10 percent prior to January 23, 2015, and in excess of 20 percent since then for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy, and there is therefore no remaining case or controversy pertaining to this claim. 2. While the Veteran’s claim was in appellate status, a December 2015 Board decision decided the claim for entitlement to an effective date prior to January 23, 2015 for the grant of a 20 percent rating for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy, and there is therefore no remaining case or controversy pertaining to this claim. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. There remains no case or controversy as to the issue of entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 10 percent prior to January 23, 2015, and in excess of 20 percent since then for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(d)(5) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.101 (2017). 2. There remains no case or controversy as to the issue of entitlement to an effective date prior to January 23, 2015 for the grant of a 20 percent rating for intermittent right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy. 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (d)(5) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.101 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran had active service from November 1975 to February 1981. These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2015 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Under 38 U.S.C. § 7105, the Board may dismiss any appeal that fails to allege specific error of fact or law in the determination being appealed. Here, in July 2011 the Board denied increased rating claims for degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine and right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, but remanded a separate claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities. As noted in the Board’s December 2015 decision, in an October 2011 rating decision, the RO erroneously reinitiated and readjudicated the increased rating claim pertaining to the low back. The Veteran perfected an appeal as to that rating decision, and in December 2015, the Board denied the claim. Pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 4.71a, Note (1), the Board also took jurisdiction of, and denied, a separate appeal involving the staged rating, including the dates of the staging, for the Veteran’s right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy. At that same time, the Veteran had an appeal for his claims pertaining to the right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy. He had perfected his appeal in August 2015; however, the appeal was not fully integrated into the VA system. Therefore, the Board’s December 2015 decision denied the Veteran’s appeal pertaining to right foot drop, sciatica, and sciatic sensory radiculopathy after it was perfected, and there is no longer a justiciable case or controversy. 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (d)(5). Accordingly, the Board is without jurisdiction to review the appeal. DELYVONNE M. WHITEHEAD Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Dean, Counsel
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