From January 1, 2009, the Veteran was granted TDIU due to service-connected disabilities.,From February 6, 2008, to January 27, 2009, a 40% rating for thoracolumbar spine disability was granted.,After January 27, 2009, the Veteran's claim for higher ratings on his knee and ankle disabilities remained denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected thoracolumbar spine disability prevented him from engaging in substantially gainful employment as of January 1, 2009.
- Claimed conditions
- Thoracolumbar spine disability, Right knee disability, Left knee disability, Right ankle disability, Left ankle disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- January 31, 2024
- Citation
- 24004910
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 857 · Granted: 35% (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 24004910.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of January 10, 1997, for a 10% disability rating for his right ankle disability is denied as there was no CUE in the previous decisions.
- Granted
The Board has granted the appellant's claim for service connection for left ankle disability residuals, finding that his current condition is due to an in-service injury and granting the benefit of the doubt.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU claim for bilateral knee disabilities and his right and left knee scars have been granted. He is now rated at a combined 60% disability rating from June 1, 2018 based on bilateral factors for his bilateral knee disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating of his cervical spine, thoracolumbar spine, left shoulder, right shoulder, upper extremity neurological, and lower extremity neurological disabilities due to inadequate VA medical examinations in March 2019 and January-May 2016. The new examinations must consider the Veteran's reported onset dates for his symptoms.
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