The Veteran's tinnitus is granted as service-connected.,For the left elbow disability, a rating in excess of 10 percent prior to January 30, 2014 and a rating in excess of 40 percent from that date are denied.,For occipital neuralgia, a rating in excess of 30 percent prior to June 22, 2017 is denied. A 50 percent rating for the condition starting from June 22, 2017 is granted, subject to further review.,TDIU benefits are granted effective February 21, 2017.

The deciding factor: The Veteran's tinnitus was found to be related to service due to in-service noise exposure and continued symptoms since service.,For the left elbow disability, the rating prior to January 30, 2014 is not higher than the maximum schedular rating (40 percent), and a higher rating from that date is denied as flexion was not limited to 75 or 90 degrees.,For occipital neuralgia, the Veteran's condition met the criteria for a 50 percent rating starting June 22, 2017 due to very frequent prostrating and prolonged attacks of headache pain producing severe economic inadaptability. Prior to that date, the condition did not meet these criteria.,TDIU benefits were granted as the Veteran's service-connected disabilities precluded him from securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment.

Claimed conditions

tinnitus, left elbow disability, occipital neuralgia

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

September 10, 2018

Citation

18132926

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 18132926.