The appeal was denied because the evidence submitted did not raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim for an earlier effective date.
The deciding factor: The March 1996 correspondence and attached January 1996 statement from Dr. R.S. do not constitute a timely notice of disagreement, thus the November 1995 and July 1996 rating decisions were properly made final.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative joint disease of the bilateral knees
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2009
- Citation
- 0905636
Veterans Law Judge
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 0905636.
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.
- Dismissed
The veteran's appeal requests for extensions to file an appeal on various rating decisions were denied, and the attempted appeals are dismissed.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for service connection as the Veteran passed away during the pendency of the appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the DIC claim due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's cause of death and service connection for hypertension and arteriosclerosis of the coronary artery. Additional medical opinions are needed, and terminal hospital records must be obtained.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for cervical strain, residuals of a head injury, and bilateral hearing loss due to procedural deficiencies. The Veteran's tinnitus and degenerative joint disease of the knees have been granted service connection.
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