The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with disc extrusion was denied as the April 1975 decision that initially denied service connection is final and no new and material evidence to reopen the claim was received prior to April 28, 1999.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the veteran was properly notified of the April 1975 decision denying service connection for a low back disorder and did not appeal it within one year. Therefore, the April 1975 decision is final, and no earlier effective date can be assigned based on new evidence received after that date.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with disc extrusion
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 1, 2008
- Citation
- 0814431
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,319 · Granted: 25% (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 0814431.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an effective date earlier than April 28, 1999 for the grant of service connection for lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with disc extrusion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD was reopened due to the submission of new and material evidence. The appeal is granted as his PTSD is now considered service-connected.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection of a left leg disability is reopened, and the appeal is granted.
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