The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for increased ratings of recurrent sacroiliac strain and right lower extremity sciatica, finding that no formal or informal claim was filed prior to July 31, 2013.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence of a previous claim filed by the Veteran within one year before his July 31, 2013 increased rating claim for recurrent sacroiliac strain and right lower extremity sciatica.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent sacroiliac strain, right lower extremity (RLE) sciatica
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- October 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19180654
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,726 · Granted: 19% (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 19180654.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty to assist error, specifically failing to obtain an opinion on whether the Veteran's RLE sciatica is aggravated by his service-connected vertigo.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right lower extremity (RLE) sciatica, left lower extremity (LLE) sciatica, and a right knee disability as the evidence did not support the presence of these conditions during or approximate to the pendency of the claims.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal because all issues were already decided in a previous decision.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection for bilateral lower extremity sciatica was granted effective September 20, 2020. The condition is secondary to his previously service-connected lumbar degenerative disc disease.
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