Citation Nr: 0809774 Decision Date: 03/24/08 Archive Date: 04/09/08 DOCKET NO. 04-22 223 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Waco, Texas THE ISSUE Entitlement to an effective date earlier than June 22, 2001, for grant of a 100 percent rating for bipolar disorder. REPRESENTATION Veteran represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL The veteran ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Helena M. Walker, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from October 1987 to May 1988. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2003 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Portland, Oregon. The veteran's file was subsequently transferred to the Waco, Texas RO. Upon an October 2006 Board decision, the claim was remanded to provide the veteran with appropriate VCAA notice. The requested action was taken and the claim is appropriately before the Board for review. In November 2004, the veteran appeared and testified before a Decision Review Officer at the Waco RO. A transcript of the hearing is of record. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. All relevant evidence necessary for an equitable disposition of the veteran's appeal has been obtained. 2. The veteran first referenced a claim of service connection for bipolar disorder in a notice of disagreement (NOD), dated February 15, 2000. 3. The veteran was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder in February 1989 and confirmed by a VA examination in April 2003. CONCLUSION OF LAW Criteria for an effective date of February 15, 2000, for the grant of service connection for bipolar disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5110 (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 3.400 (2007). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION There has been a significant change in the law during the pendency of this appeal. The Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA), Pub. L. No. 106-475, 114 Stat. 2096 (2000), now codified at 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5100, 5102, 5103, 5103A, 5107 (West Supp. 2001). The legislation has eliminated the well- grounded claim requirement, has expanded the duty of VA to notify the veteran and the representative, and has enhanced its duty to assist a veteran in developing the information and evidence necessary to substantiate a claim. See generally VCAA. Given the disposition reached in this case, the Board finds that VA has met its duty to assist the veteran in the development of his claim on appeal under VCAA. Upon the request of the veteran, the VCAA requires readjudication of certain previously denied claims. The VCAA, which was enacted on November 9, 2000, requires readjudication if the claim (1) became final between July 14, 1999 and the enactment of the VCAA, (2) was issued by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or a court on the basis the claim was not well grounded and (3) the veteran made a request for readjudication within two years of the enactment of the VCAA. See Pub. L. No. 106-475, § 7, 114 Stat. 2096, 2099-100 (2000). If such a claim were readjudicated, the prior decision was to be treated as though it had never been made. See also VAOPGCPREC 3-2001 (Jan. 22, 2001); VBA Fast Letter 00-87 (Nov. 17, 2000). The veteran was denied service connection for a personality disorder in a July 1989 rating decision. The veteran did not perfect an appeal on that claim. The veteran filed a claim of service connection for a psychiatric disorder in November 1999, it was denied by the RO in a February 2000 rating decision finding that no new and material evidence had been submitted to reopen the veteran's previously denied claim of service connection for a personality disorder. That same month, the veteran filed a NOD indicating that he believed his claim of service connection for bipolar disorder was well-grounded. The veteran did not perfect an appeal regarding his request to reopen his claim for a psychiatric disorder, as he did not file a substantive appeal following the May 2000 Statement of the Case. In March 2000, the veteran formally filed a claim of service connection for bipolar disorder. In May 2000, the veteran's claim of service connection for bipolar disorder was denied as being not well grounded. Pursuant to the enactment of the VCAA, the RO, in June 2001, unilaterally readjudicated the veteran's claim of service connection for bipolar disorder. See VAOPGCPREC 3-2001. The veteran contends that the effective date for the grant of service connection for bipolar disorder should be the date he filed his claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability-November 16, 1999. He further contends that he was not issued a VA Form 9 to file a substantive appeal following the February 2000 rating decision, which had declined to reopen the veteran's previously denied claim of service connection for a personality disorder. Except as otherwise provided, the effective date of an evaluation and award of pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation based on an original claim, a claim reopened after final disallowance, or a claim for increase will be the date of receipt of the claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is the later. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.400. First, the Board notes that the May 2000 Statement of the Case was mailed to the veteran's address of record, and the letter accompanying the Statement of the Case indicates a VA Form 9 was enclosed. The Board finds that the veteran was provided a VA Form 9 and instructions for perfecting his appeal. The evidence of record indicates that the veteran was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder, manic and moderate, in February 1989. In March 2002, the RO denied the veteran's claim of service connection for bipolar disorder as there was no evidence that his disability was caused or aggravated by service. In April 2003, the veteran underwent a VA examination for his bipolar disorder. The examiner noted that although the characteristics and symptomatology for bipolar disorder were present prior to service, his lack of effective coping skills and stress encountered during service aggravated it. The veteran was granted service connection for bipolar disorder in May 2003 with a rating of 100 percent, effective June 22, 2001. The RO considered the June 22, 2001, effective date to be the date of the veteran's claim, although the veteran made no claim for bipolar disorder on that date. Given the evidence as outlined above, the Board finds that the veteran's February 2000 NOD regarding his denied claim of service connection for a personality disorder is considered a claim of service connection for bipolar disorder. The Board appreciates the veteran's assertion that his effective date for the grant of service connection should be November 16, 1999, but that claim was denied on the basis that new and material evidence had not been submitted to reopen the claim of service connection for a personality disorder-it was not denied as being not well-grounded. Thus, Pub. L. No. 106- 475, § 7, 114 Stat. 2096 had no applicability to the November 1999 claim. The evidence of record reflects a February 1989 diagnosis of bipolar disorder, which was confirmed by an April 2003 VA examination. The April 2003 VA examination also linked the veteran's current disability to service. Upon readjudication of the veteran's claim due to enactment of the VCAA, the veteran is entitled to an effective date as of the date of the claim that was denied as not being well- grounded. Therefore, the veteran's effective date for a grant of service connection for bipolar disorder is the date of receipt of his claim-February 15, 2000. ORDER An effective date of February 15, 2000, for the grant of service connection for bipolar disorder is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the award of monetary benefits. ____________________________________________ James L. March Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Department of Veterans Affairs