Veterans’ RightsAn independent resource for veterans
← All decisions
Denied

The Board denied the veteran's claim for an effective date before March 21, 2003 for the grant of service connection for lumbar stenosis with degenerative changes.

The deciding factor: There was no evidence of a prior informal claim or pending claim of service connection for a back disability before March 21, 2003. The effective date is based on the date that the application upon which service connection was eventually awarded was filed (March 21, 2003).

Claimed conditions
lumbar stenosis with degenerative changes
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
December 6, 2006
Citation
0637862

Veterans Law Judge

GEORGE E. GUIDO JR.

Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 9% (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 0637862.

What this means for you

A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.

What you can do next

Related decisions

Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.

Free starter guide for your own claim

Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.

We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.

We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.

This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.