The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for various conditions, including migraine headaches and a thoracolumbar spine disability.
The deciding factor: There was no evidence demonstrating that the 30 percent evaluation for migraine headaches or the 40 percent evaluation for a thoracolumbar spine disability were warranted during the one-year period prior to November 5, 2020.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, thoracolumbar spine disability (degenerative arthritis), right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve, left lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve, right lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral nerve, left lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral nerve, major depressive disorder (MDD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2025
- Citation
- A25009017
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,242 · Granted: 27% (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 A25009017.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to incomplete medical records and insufficient opinions regarding the relationship between service, including a stick injury in England, and current left eye disability (including amblyopia and cataracts) as well as migraine headaches.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed all issues on appeal as the May 2024 rating decision was a purely ministerial implementation of the April 2024 Board decision.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches are productive of very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks capable of producing severe economic inadaptability. The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches.
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