The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for an asbestos-related pleural disease and entitlement to TDIU due to his bilateral hearing loss. The preponderance of evidence did not support a finding that any current asbestos-related pleural disease was related to service, while the VA medical opinions supported this conclusion. For TDIU, the Board found that the Veteran's service-connected bilateral hearing loss alone did not prevent him from securing and following substantially gainful employment.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of evidence does not support a finding that any current asbestos-related pleural disease is related to service exposure or civilian exposure. The VA medical opinions supported this conclusion, while the Veteran's own opinion was found to be less persuasive due to its reliance on an erroneous depiction of the evidence and failure to consider his extensive civilian exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Asbestos-related pleural disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 19, 2020
- Citation
- 20067583
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 20067583.
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: Denied
The Veteran's initial claim for an increased rating for asbestos-related pleural disease was denied, as the current level of disability does not warrant a higher rating under the applicable schedular criteria.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for asbestos-related pleural disease and bilateral hearing loss, finding that the current disability levels did not warrant a higher rating under VA's schedular criteria.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not render him unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation, as he is able to perform sedentary work despite his knee issues.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for higher initial evaluations and TDIU was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a compensable rating prior to December 8, 2011 or any rating in excess of 10 percent since then.
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