The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for migraine headaches and granted his claims for service connection for lumbar spine degenerative arthritis and right lower extremity radiculopathy. However, the effective dates for these grants are denied as they are without legal merit. The remaining issues of increased ratings for lumbar spine and right lower extremity radiculopathy are remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The Board found that new evidence had been received to reopen the claim for service connection for migraine headaches, but the effective dates were denied as they did not meet legal requirements.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, lumbar spine degenerative arthritis, right lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19107729
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches were granted a 50 percent disability rating, effective August 8, 2023, due to very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's migraine headaches based on prostrating attacks occurring more than once a month and severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as proximately due to the Veteran's service-connected tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, but no greater.
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