Citation Nr: 18140973
Decision Date: 10/09/18	Archive Date: 10/09/18

DOCKET NO. 14-24 692
DATE:	October 9, 2018
ORDER
An effective date earlier than November 26, 2003 for the grant of service connection for coronary artery disease is denied.
APPELLANT’S CONTENTIONS
The appellant, the Veteran’s widow, has been substituted as the claimant for purposes of processing the instant claim to completion. She contends that the grant of service connection for the Veteran’s coronary artery disease (CAD) should have an effective date earlier than November 26, 2003.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The earliest medical evidence of record of the Veteran’s CAD is a February 17, 2004 VA digestive examination, which documents a history of coronary artery bypass surgery.
2. The date of receipt of the Veteran’s claim for service connection for CAD is November 26, 2003. See June 2014 Statement of the Case; December 2011 Rating Decision.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for an effective date earlier than November 26, 2003 for the grant of service connection for coronary artery disease are not met. 38 U.S.C. § 5110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.816(c)(2).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the Marine Corps from March 1968 to October 1969 and from November 1988 to November 1995. 
This case is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2011 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Columbia, South Carolina.
On November 26, 2003, the Veteran filed a claim for service connection for a metal wound, stomach parasite, jungle rot, and a disability of the feet. On August 31, 2010, VA regulations were amended to add CAD to the list of diseases presumptively related to exposure to herbicide agents, and the Veteran filed a claim for service connection for CAD in September of that year. In a July 2011 rating decision, the RO granted service connection effective the date of the regulatory change.
Subsequently, the RO inferred a previous claim for service connection for CAD based on a February 2004 VA examination for the Veteran’s stomach parasite claim, at which he reported a history of coronary artery bypass surgery. In a December 2011 rating decision, the RO granted an earlier effective date of November 26, 2003, under 38 C.F.R. § 3.816(c)(2), which states that claims for service connection for a condition related to herbicide exposure received between May 1989 and the date of a regulation establishing a presumption of service connection for the relevant condition shall have an effective date of either the date of the claim or the date the disability arose, whichever is later.
In her substantive appeal, the appellant averred that the effective date of the grant of service connection for CAD should be earlier than November 26, 2003. The Veteran’s report of a history of coronary artery bypass surgery at the February 2004 VA examination lends credence to the suggestion that his CAD may date to earlier than November 26, 2003. 
However, VA regulations provide that the effective date shall be the later of the date entitlement arose and the date the claim was received. Therefore, even if the Veteran’s CAD had its onset prior to November 26, 2003, that date nevertheless remains the appropriate effective date of the grant of service connection, since that is the date the RO inferred the Veteran’s claim for service connection. For these reasons, an effective date earlier than November 26, 2003, for the grant of service connection for CAD is not warranted.
 
S. C. KREMBS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	P. Timmerman, Associate Counsel