The Board found that the veteran's foot disability was not incurred during active service or causally related to his active service.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence of an in-service injury, and the first post-service finding of a foot disability was made 44 years after discharge from service. The lapse of time between service separation and the earliest documentation of current disability is too remote to be reasonably related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral foot disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2009
- Citation
- 0902121
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,374 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0902121.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral foot disability is related to his active military service and grants service connection for this condition.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for a new examination to address the Veteran's lay statements regarding her symptoms during service.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection for a bilateral foot disability and back disability have been granted due to the submission of new evidence. The AOJ is required to readjudicate these claims.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew her appeals for the service connection of multiple conditions, including low back disability, bilateral foot disability, cervical spine disability, migraines, right hand and shoulder disabilities, right wrist disability, asthma (claimed as Gulf War Syndrome), chronic fatigue syndrome, dysmenorrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and sleep disability. As a result, these claims are dismissed.
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