The Board dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection for degenerative joint and disc disease of the lumbar spine and cervical spine due to his death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran passed away during the pendency of the appeal, making it impossible for the Board to adjudicate the merits of the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative joint and disc disease, lumbar spine, degenerative joint and disc disease, cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 27, 2020
- Citation
- 20069506
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,432 · 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 20069506.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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 withdrew his appeal, and the Board dismissed all issues related to higher evaluations for major depressive disorder with anxious distress and cannabis use disorder associated with degenerative joint and disc disease, lumbar spine, to include lumbago, as well as TDIU.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet the criteria for a TDIU prior to August 11, 2014.
- Dismissed
The appeal has been dismissed as the appellant withdrew it prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's combined disability rating is currently at 60%, which does not meet the percentage standards for a TDIU under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). However, due to his service-connected lumbar spine disability and other conditions, he may be unemployable by reason of service-connected disabilities. The case is being remanded so that it can be submitted to the Director, Compensation and Pension Service, for extra-schedular consideration.
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