The Veteran's claim for an effective date earlier than October 28, 2015 for the establishment of service connection for sciatic radiculopathy of both lower extremities was denied. The effective rating remains at 10%.
The deciding factor: It was not factually ascertainable prior to October 28, 2015 that the Veteran had sciatic radiculopathy of either lower extremity, to include as due to a service-connected disability of the lumbar spine.
- Claimed conditions
- sciatic radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20001126
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,757 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20001126.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeal because the January 2025 rating decision did not address the current ratings assigned for sciatic radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities, as he had a valid pending Higher-Level Review request regarding these issues.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's RLE radiculopathy was granted a 40 percent disability rating, effective from May 9, 2016.,The Veteran's LLE radiculopathy was granted a 20 percent disability rating, effective from May 9, 2016.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's LLE and RLE sciatic radiculopathy, as well as her RLE femoral radiculopathy have been granted initial 20 percent ratings since March 15, 2022.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's right and left lower extremity sciatic radiculopathy were granted a rating of 40 percent each, effective March 28, 2013.
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