The Veteran's appeal for service connection for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease is dismissed due to the death of the appellant.
The deciding factor: The appellant died during the pendency of the appeal, and therefore the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20066129
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right knee strain, left hip strain, right hip arthritis, and lumbar spine degenerative disc disease as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected chronic iliotibial band syndrome of the left knee. The appeal was denied for service connection for right ear hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the issues of entitlement to earlier effective dates for RLE and LLE radiculopathy service connection awards, finding that the AOJ failed to reconsider these claims under 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c) after receipt of relevant official service department records. The Board remanded for a VA medical opinion to determine whether the radiculopathy onset occurred prior to September 15, 1999.
- Dismissed
The appeal for earlier effective dates and initial ratings for service-connected conditions was withdrawn by the Veteran, thus these claims are dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 20 percent prior to March 18, 2024, for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD) as the evidence did not support a higher rating.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.