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Dismissed

The appeal for an earlier effective date than February 1, 2020, for the grant of a 40 percent disability rating for lumbosacral spinal stenosis with facet hypertrophy and degenerative disc disease was dismissed because it is considered a purely ministerial implementation of a Board decision.

The deciding factor: The appeal was dismissed as the September 2024 rating decision was deemed a purely ministerial implementation of the Board's earlier decision, which cannot be appealed to the Board under current regulations.

Claimed conditions
lumbosacral spinal stenosis with facet hypertrophy and degenerative disc disease
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
November 12, 2025
Citation
A25097867

Veterans Law Judge

TANYA SMITH

Decisions by this judge: 1,828 · 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 A25097867.

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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.

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