Court Opinion

ID: 4373578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2019-03-05 01:00:24.324319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:24:35.933513
License: Public Domain

Citation Nr: 1413840	
Decision Date: 03/31/14    Archive Date: 04/10/14

DOCKET NO.  08-10 586	)	DATE
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Fort Harrison, Montana

THE ISSUES

1.  Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorder.

2.  Entitlement to service connection for left knee degenerative joint disease (DJD), to include as secondary to service-connected low back disability.

REPRESENTATION

Veteran represented by:	The American Legion

WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL

The Veteran

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Zi-Heng Zhu, General Attorney 

INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served on active duty from August 1968 to November 1970.

This matter was originally before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from September 2007 and October 2010 decisions of the Fort Harrison, Montana Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  In July 2011, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge (VLJ).  In November 2011, the Board issued a decision that, in part, denied the claims of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and anxiety disorder, and entitlement to service connection for left knee DJD.

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 VLJ 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 November 2011 Board decision that denied entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and anxiety disorder, and entitlement to service connection for left knee DJD is vacated.  The remainder of the November 2011 Board decision remains undisturbed. 

	                        ____________________________________________
	D. C. SPICKLER
	Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals