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Denied

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection of lumbar spine disability, radiculopathy of left lower extremity, and radiculopathy of left upper extremity.

The deciding factor: The Veteran did not raise these issues prior to his January 20, 2012 claim. The RO would not have had reasonable notice that the Veteran was intending to file a claim for any related back or neck injury or radiculopathy.

Claimed conditions
lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, radiculopathy of the left upper extremity
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
December 20, 2019
Citation
19195753

Veterans Law Judge

M. E. KILCOYNE

Decisions by this judge: 170 · Granted: 18% (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 19195753.

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.

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