The Board has determined that the veteran's current left shoulder disorder, including impingement and a torn rotator cuff, was incurred during his active duty service in April 2001. The injury occurred while he was on inactive duty training with the Alabama Army National Guard.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows that the veteran injured his left shoulder during a period of inactive duty training in April 2001 and underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff. His disability is considered to be directly related to this service injury.
- Claimed conditions
- Impingement of left shoulder, Torn rotator cuff
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2004
- Citation
- 0404428
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 499 · Granted: 18% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0404428.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claims of service connection for psychiatric disability, broken ankle, torn rotator cuff, and irritable bowel syndrome as they are not currently pending. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is also denied a compensable rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a retrospective medical opinion and to consider whether an extraschedular TDIU rating is warranted. The Veteran's left shoulder impingement disability remains rated at 20 percent, which does not meet his claim for a higher rating.
- Granted
For the period between November 1, 1996 and February 1, 2005, the Veteran's postoperative residuals of a torn rotator cuff of the left shoulder were manifested by severe limitation of motion with pain and weakness such that limitation of motion of the arm was approximately to 25 degrees from the side. The Board found that this warranted an initial rating of 30 percent.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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