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Denied

The claim for an effective date earlier than November 10, 1997, for the grant of service connection for a cervical spine disorder is denied.

The deciding factor: There was no communication from either the Veteran or his representative from the time of the Board's January 1986 decision until filing the petition to reopen this claim on November 10, 1997, requesting service connection for a cervical spine disorder or indicating such intent to file a claim or a belief of entitlement to this benefit.

Claimed conditions
post-operative residuals of a diskectomy and fusion of the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae (C6-7)
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
March 3, 2009
Citation
0907776

Veterans Law Judge

KEITH W. ALLEN

Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 0907776.

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

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