The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings for lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis of the spine is dismissed.,The earlier effective date claim for service connection for a residual painful scar, status post appendectomy, is denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran withdrew his appeal for increased ratings and did not provide new evidence or arguments to reopen the service connection claim within one year of the August 1992 rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis of the spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19115158
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,446 · Granted: 21% (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 19115158.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet the criteria for special monthly compensation (SMC) based on housebound status as he does not have a single disability rated at 100% and additional disabilities independently ratable at 60%, nor is he permanently housebound by reason of his service-connected disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board granted restoration of a 70 percent rating for PTSD with alcohol use disorder and a 10 percent rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral nerve), while denying the other claims.
- Granted
The Veteran's lumbar disability was granted a 40 percent evaluation prior to September 19, 2016 based on forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine being 30 degrees or less.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis of the spine and episcleritis due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran is to be presumed credible for the limited purpose of this examination.
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