The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for restoration of a 20 percent disability rating and an increased rating for his right shoulder disability, as well as service connection for degenerative joint disease of the lumbosacral spine.
The deciding factor: There was not objective evidence demonstrating improvement in the severity of the Veteran's right shoulder disability at the time of the reduction in the assigned disability rating.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a right shoulder strain with tendonitis, degenerative joint disease of the lumbosacral spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- March 17, 2009
- Citation
- 0909785
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,555 · Granted: 19% (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 0909785.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the lumbosacral spine, finding that it is at least as likely as not related to military service.
- Granted
The Board granted a 40 percent disability rating for the Veteran's low back disorder, effective March 31, 2019.
- Denied
The Veteran's TDIU claim for the period prior to March 28, 2014 was denied as his service-connected disabilities did not meet the schedular criteria for a TDIU and there is no evidence of unemployability due to these conditions.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings have been dismissed as he has withdrawn his appeal in a communication received in April 2022.
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