The Veteran's appeals for earlier effective dates for disability ratings have been dismissed as free-standing claims are not allowed.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran cannot obtain an earlier effective date than what was assigned in the original rating decision, and dismissed the appeal as a free-standing claim for an earlier effective date is not valid.
- Claimed conditions
- Depressive disorder, not otherwise specified (NOS), Migraine headaches status-post concussion due to head injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- March 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19122199
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · 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 19122199.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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 Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including a depressive disorder, NOS, as secondary to his low back disorder. The evidence did not support a causal relationship between the Veteran’s psychiatric condition and active service or any service-connected disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's posttraumatic tensional, muscle contraction headaches are rated at a 10 percent disability rating. The Board also granted service connection for depressive disorder, not otherwise specified (NOS).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining records from military bases and scheduling a VA examination to determine if the Veteran currently has an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD. The claim will be reconsidered after these actions.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, peripheral vestibular disability, bilateral hearing loss, and tinnitus has been denied as the evidence does not support a finding of direct service connection.
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