The Board dismissed the appellant's claim for an earlier effective date for DIC benefits based on a grant of service connection for the cause of her husband's death, finding that there was no freestanding claim and dismissing as a matter of law.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence to support a claim for an earlier effective date before April 17, 2000, as the appellant did not file any claims or correspondence prior to this date.
- Claimed conditions
- Melanoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20007777
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · 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 20007777.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Granted
The Veteran's melanoma is granted service connection. Service connection for skin cancer other than melanoma is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the DIC benefits claim due to a failure to obtain relevant medical records from Jefferson City Health and Rehabilitation Center, which could provide information about the Veteran's diagnosis of melanoma.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for residuals of a skin condition, including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for a heart disability, kidney tumor, melanoma, back disability, and bilateral hearing loss to correct duty-to-assist errors.
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