The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for earlier effective dates for service connection of left knee conditions, as there was no legal basis to assign an effective date prior to August 6, 2015.

The deciding factor: There is no communication from the Veteran or his representative indicating an intent to claim service connection for any left knee disability between January 1995 and August 6, 2015, which is when he filed a formal claim.

Claimed conditions

left knee strain and knee fracture with post-traumatic arthritis, limitation of extension, scar, left knee, left knee strain and knee fracture with semilunar cartilage and frequent episodes of locking, pain, and effusion, left knee strain and knee fracture with recurrent and patellar instability

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

November 18, 2025

Citation

A25099873

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine