Citation Nr: 9933357 Decision Date: 11/29/99 Archive Date: 12/06/99 DOCKET NO. 98-07 954 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUE Entitlement to an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for schizophrenia. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. W. Engle, Counsel INTRODUCTION The appellant served on active duty for training from August to December 1976 and on active duty in the Army Reserve from November 1978 to April 1979. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a decision dated in September 1997, by the St. Petersburg, Florida, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). FINDINGS OF FACT 1. In September 1986, the Board denied entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder. 2. In February 1997, the Senior Deputy Vice Chairman of the Board ordered reconsideration of the September 1986 decision. 3. Pursuant to the Order of Reconsideration, the appellant's claim was remanded to the RO for additional development. 4. In September 1997, the RO granted service connection for schizophrenia, effectively replacing the September 1986 decision by the Board. 5. In the absence of a final decision by the Board, the effective date of the grant of service connection for schizophrenia is governed by 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(i), (ii). 6. The first documented claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder was received by VA on March 7th, 1983. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for an effective date of March 7th, 1983, for the award of service connection for schizophrenia are met. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5107(a), 5110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(b)(2)(ii)(1999). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Initially, the Board notes that the appellant's claim is well grounded within the meaning of 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). Generally, the effective date of an award based on an original claim for compensation will be the day following separation from active service or the date entitlement arose if the claim is received within one year after separation from service; otherwise, the effective date will be the date of receipt of claim, or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. 38 C.F.R. § 3.400. Pursuant to § 3.400(2)(i), the effective date for direct service connection is the day following separation from active service or the date entitlement arose if the claim is received within 1 year after separation from service; otherwise, it will be the date of receipt of the claim, or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. Separation from service means separation under conditions other than dishonorable from continuous active service which extended from the date the disability was incurred or aggravated. Section (ii) provides that the effective date for presumptive service connection will be the date entitlement arose, if the claim is received within 1 year after separation from active duty; otherwise it will be the date of receipt of the claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. Where the requirements for service connection are met during service, the effective date will be the day following separation from service if there was continuous active service following the period of service on which the presumption is based and a claim is received within 1 year after separation from active duty. After review of the record in this case, the undersigned concludes that March 7th, 1983 is the appropriate effective date for the grant of service connection for schizophrenia. The evidence of record clearly documents the presence of schizophrenia at that time and provides for a reasonable basis to conclude that it was present to a compensable degree within one year of the appellant's discharge from service in 1979. However, the first documented evidence of a claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder is dated March 7th, 1983. Although the text of that correspondence involves a request for a status update for a claim for service connection for a neuropsychiatric disorder, and subsequent correspondence received by VA in August 1983 suggests that a claim was submitted in September 1982, the evidence within the record does not confirm that the appellant submitted a claim until the March 7th, 1983 correspondence. In this regard, the Board finds it significant that the RO indicated in its March 1984 decision that March 7th, 1983 was the date of the claim being adjudicated at that time. Accordingly, in the absence of any additional evidence to establish that the appellant submitted a prior claim, March 7th, 1983 is found to be the appropriate effective date, as the date of the appellant's claim for service connection for schizophrenia. The Board notes that the RO, in its September 1997 rating decision, applied the effective date criteria applicable to cases where there has been a prior final decision which has been reopened and granted based upon new and material evidence. In this case, the procedural posture is somewhat unusual due to the February 1997 Order of Reconsideration. As a consequence of that Order, the September 1986 decision by the Board which denied entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder was replaced by the reconsideration decision. It is as though the 1986 Board decision had been vacated. See VAOPGCPREC 89-90 (O.G.C. Prec. 89-90). Because there was no final decision on this issue prior to the RO's allowance, the claim from which the September 1986 Board decision originated is considered to have remained open to the present time and therefore, in the absence of finality of either a prior decision by the Board or the RO, the effective date for the grant of benefits in September 1997 is governed by 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(2)(ii). In view of the above and in the absence of any additional evidence to the contrary, the effective date for the grant of service connection for schizophrenia is March 7th, 1983. ORDER Entitlement to an effective date of March 7th, 1983 for the grant of service connection for schizophrenia is granted. BETTINA S. CALLAWAY Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals