The Veteran's claim for service connection for Traumatic Brain Injury with Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type (also claimed as bipolar, manic depressive, mental condition, PTSD, and personality disorder) was granted in December 2016 effective October 5, 2006. The Board found no earlier effective date is permitted by law.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not file a formal or informal claim to reopen prior to the October 2006 claim to reopen and there was no evidence of a communication or treatment records that could be reasonably construed as a new claim for service connection for a psychiatric condition or TBI, either formal or informal, received after the January 1997 rating decision and prior to October 2006 claim to reopen.
- Claimed conditions
- Traumatic Brain Injury, Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19161411
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,874 · Granted: 33% (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 19161411.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial ratings for anxiety disorder and TBI were denied as the evidence did not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal for an initial disability rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected traumatic brain injury is being remanded due to a procedural error.
- Granted
The Board granted entitlement to SMC under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(t) effective January 21, 2019, based on the appellant's need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected TBI.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 70 percent for TBI is denied. The appeal for entitlement to TDIU is dismissed as moot.
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