The Board dismissed the appeal because a timely substantive appeal was not submitted or received regarding the October 2016 rating decision and the August 2017 SOC, which denied service connection for sciatic nerve damage/pain due to the lower back.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not file a timely substantive appeal within the required time frame as per VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- sciatic nerve damage/pain, left leg disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 4, 2020
- Citation
- A20017950
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,836 · Granted: 31% (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 A20017950.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim to include any mental health disorder raised by the record and has remanded for additional development regarding service connection for left leg, ankle, and psychiatric disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for left and right leg disabilities due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran is required to undergo VA examinations to determine if any current left or right leg disabilities are related to active service.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus, cervical spine disability, low back disability, left shoulder disability, and left leg disability. The decision is based on the Veteran's active duty service and his current disabilities are found to be related to these service events.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, back disability, left leg disability, left knee disability, and hypertension. The Board found that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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