The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for his right knee scar and overall disability rating have been dismissed as they are attempts to establish freestanding claims, not appeals of final decisions.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not appeal the final decisions that assigned the ratings and effective dates he is now seeking an earlier date for.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20001261
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,500 · Granted: 29% (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 20001261.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for a compensable disability rating for his service-connected right knee scar was withdrawn by the Veteran and his authorized representative.,The Board has remanded the issues of entitlement to a compensable disability rating for migraine headaches, service connection for a lower back condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee condition, service connection for a right hip condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee condition, and service connection for a right lower extremity nerve condition as secondary to the Veteran's claimed lower back condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right and left knee disabilities, as well as his right knee scar. The RO must attempt to obtain all available private treatment records from the Tennessee Orthopedic Clinic.
- Granted
The Veteran is unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment due to service-connected disabilities, and a TDIU is granted.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and effective dates related to his bilateral leg conditions.,The Veteran was granted a TDIU rating as of October 6, 2011, based on his service-connected disabilities.
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