Citation Nr: 18144467 Decision Date: 10/24/18 Archive Date: 10/24/18 DOCKET NO. 16-30 012 DATE: October 24, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to an earlier effective date than April 28, 2004 for service connection for a left ankle disability is denied. Entitlement to an earlier effective date than April 28, 2004 for service connection for a neck disability is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. In March 1998, VA received a request from the Veteran to reopen claims for entitlement to service connection including claims for ankle and neck disabilities. 2. In a June 1999 rating decision, the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) denied the Veteran’s request for reopening his prior claims because it found new and material evidence had not been submitted. 3. In February 2003, the AOJ issued a Statement of the Case denying the Veteran’s claims and informed the Veteran he had sixty days from the date of the letter to file a substantive appeal. 4. The Veteran’s substantive appeal was received by VA in May 2003 after the sixty-day filing period had expired, and the AOJ informed the Veteran that the appeal was untimely in a June 2003 letter. 5. VA did not receive another request from the Veteran to reopen his prior claims until April 28, 2004. 6. In a June 2014 decision, the Board found that June 1999 rating decision was final before reopening and granting the Veteran’s claims for service connection on the basis of new and material evidence received in association with the April 2004 claim. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The June 1999 rating decision was a final decision regarding the Veteran’s prior requests for reopening the claims for entitlement to service connection for ankle and neck disabilities. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(c) (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 3.156, 20.201, 20.302, 20.1103 (2017). 2. The criteria for entitlement to an earlier effective date than April 28, 2004 for service connection for a left ankle disability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5110, 7105(c) (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 3.156, 20.201, 20.302, 20.1103 (2017). 3. The criteria for entitlement to an earlier effective date than April 28, 2004 for service connection for a neck disability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5110, 7105(c) (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 3.156, 20.201, 20.302, 20.1103 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from January 1976 to December 1978. He also had service in the Army National Guard with periods of active duty for training (ACDUTRA) and inactive duty for training (INACDUTRA). This appeal comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from an October 2014 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran and his representative have not raised any issues with the duty to notify or duty to assist in regard to the Veteran’s claims on appeal. See Scott v McDonald, 789 F.3d 1375, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (holding that “the Board’s obligation to read filings in a liberal manner does not require the Board . . . to search the record and address procedural arguments when the veteran fails to raise them before the Board.”); Dickens v. McDonald, 814 F.3d 1359, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (applying Scott to duty to assist argument). The Veteran’s request to reopen claims for entitlement to service connection for left ankle and cervical spine disabilities was granted in a June 2014 Board decision. The Board also granted the claims for service connection on the merits, and the RO assigned ratings of 10 percent each for residuals of a neck injury and residuals of a left ankle injury in an October 2014 rating decision. Effective dates were assigned as of April 28, 2004, which is the date VA received the Veteran’s most recent and pertinent requests for reopening. However, in January 2015, VA received a notice of disagreement with the effective dates from the Veteran. The Veteran indicated he wanted back-pay to 1983 because a prior final VA decision in the 1980s erroneously found there was no proof of relevant injuries while in-service despite documentation of such injuries in the Veteran’s service records. The Board considered the Veteran’s allegations of an error regarding prior decisions, but a review of the prior decisions in question shows that VA did in fact explicitly note the Veteran sustained neck and ankle injuries during his military service. See July 1986 Board decision (finding that while the Veteran’s service treatment records document injuries to his neck and ankle, subsequent records indicate the injuries resolved to the point where the Veteran did not have a current disability). Therefore, the Board finds no credible evidence or specific contention identifying an error in the prior decision, which may warrant further review. Nevertheless, the Board has reviewed the record to ensure that the current effective dates are correctly assigned under applicable law. In March 1998, VA received a request from the Veteran to reopen claims for entitlement to service connection including claims for ankle and neck disabilities. In a June 1999 rating decision, the AOJ denied the Veteran’s request for reopening his prior claims because it found new and material evidence had not been submitted. In February 2003, the AOJ issued a Statement of the Case denying the Veteran’s claims and informed the Veteran he had sixty days from the date of the letter to file a substantive appeal to the Board. The Veteran’s substantive appeal was received by VA in May 2003 after the sixty-day filing period had expired, and the AOJ informed the Veteran that the appeal was untimely. Therefore, the June 1999 rating decision became a final decision in regard to the Veteran’s prior requests for reopening the relevant claims. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.302(b). See also June 2014 Board decision. The record shows that VA did not receive a new request from the Veteran to reopen the claims with new and material evidence until April 28, 2004. The effective date of an award based on an initial claim, or a supplemental claim, of compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension, shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of application therefor. See 38 U.S.C. § 5110(a). Therefore, the Board finds no basis for assigning the Veteran an earlier effective date for service connection than April 28, 2004 for the Veteran’s ankle and neck disabilities under applicable law. MICHAEL LANE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Michael Duffy, Associate Counsel