The Board grants an initial 40 percent disability rating for the Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disability, an initial 20 percent disability rating for the cervical spine disability, and an initial 10 percent disability rating for the right long finger disability, all effective from November 1, 2009.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that the evidence is at least in approximate balance as to whether the Veteran's disabilities manifested in the specified levels of severity throughout the appeal period, and thus grants the benefits sought on appeal under the 'benefit-of-the-doubt' rule.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine disability, right long finger disability, thoracolumbar spine disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- November 19, 2025
- Citation
- 25014159
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (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 25014159.
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 Board denied the claims of service connection for cervical spine and skin rash disabilities, finding that there is no evidence linking these conditions to active military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for miscarriage, cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, and right elbow disability due to insufficient examination opinions and incomplete service history verification.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for cervical and thoracolumbar spine disabilities due to a predecisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's past medical history needs to be considered in the new examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for sleep apnea and cervical spine disability due to potential service connection issues related to obesity, service-connected disabilities, and other factors.
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