The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and service connection have been granted. The VA has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are secondary to his service-connected back disability, and he is now eligible for DEA benefits based on permanent total disability status.
The deciding factor: The lay statement submitted by the Veteran's spouse established a link between the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities and his service-connected back disability, warranting an earlier effective date of November 30, 2010.
- Claimed conditions
- Lumbar Pain, Bilateral Knee Disabilities
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 19, 2024
- Citation
- 24033140
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 916 · Granted: 40% (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 24033140.
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.
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- Denied
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- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected traumatic brain injury, bilateral knee disabilities, and sinus disability prevented him from obtaining or retaining substantially gainful employment during the period on appeal prior to January 26, 2009.
- Dismissed
The Board denied the veteran's appeal for service connection for allergies, bilateral hip disabilities, bilateral knee disabilities, lower back disability, and right foot, second toe disability due to untimely filing of the appeal requests.
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