Citation Nr: 18153928 Decision Date: 11/28/18 Archive Date: 11/28/18 DOCKET NO. 07-12 677 DATE: November 28, 2018 ORDER An effective date of December 31, 1984, for the grant of service connection for major depression is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran filed an original claim for service connection for major depression that was received on December 31, 1984. 2. In a final December 1985 rating decision, the RO denied service connection for major depression (psychosis) because the evidence did not show the current condition was incurred in or aggravated during service, or that it manifested within a presumptive period. 3. Service personnel records submitted by the Veteran in conjunction with his claim to reopen establish that disciplinary action was taken for various behavioral issues, to include drunk and disorderly conduct, during service. 4. The December 2012 Board decision that granted service connection for major depression was, in part, based on a finding that the disorder was shown as likely as not to have had its clinical onset during the Veteran’s period of active duty service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for an effective date of December 31, 1984, for the grant of service connection for major depression have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5107, 5110 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.156(c), 3.400 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had honorable active duty service from November 1969 to August 1972. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2013 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which effectuated the Board’s December 2012 grant of service connection for major depression and assigned an initial rating of 50 percent effective August 31, 2005. In July 2017, the Board denied the claim for an effective date earlier than August 31, 2005, for the grant of service connection for major depression. The Veteran subsequently appealed the Board's July 2017 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In an April 2018 Joint Motion for Remand, the parties requested that the Court vacate the July 2017 Board decision that denied entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 31, 2005, for the grant of service connection for major depression. In an April 2018 Order, the Court granted the Joint Motion. 1. Entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 31, 2005, for the grant of service connection for major depression The Veteran filed an original claim to establish service connection for major depression as secondary to migraine headaches that was received on December 31, 1984. In a December 1985 rating decision, the RO denied service connection for major depression (psychosis) because the evidence did not show the current psychosis was incurred in or aggravated during service, or that it manifested within a presumptive period. The Veteran did not appeal that decision and it became final. The Veteran filed a request to reopen the claim for service connection for depression as secondary to migraine headaches that was received on August 31, 2005. He subsequently submitted service personnel records that establish disciplinary action was taken for various behavioral issues, to include drunk and disorderly conduct, during service. Service connection was denied in a March 2006 rating decision that the Veteran appealed. In April 2008, the Board reopened the claim for service connection on a direct basis and remanded it, as well as a claim for service connection on a secondary basis, for additional development. In December 2012, the Board granted service connection for major depression. In pertinent part, it found that the Veteran’s major depression was shown as likely as not to have had its clinical onset during the Veteran’s period of active duty service. The Board’s grant of service connection was effectuated in the June 2013 rating decision that is the subject of this appeal, which granted an initial rating of 50 percent effective August 31, 2005. The Veteran seeks entitlement to an effective date earlier than August 31, 2005, for the grant of service connection for major depression. He asserts the effective date should go back to December 31, 1984. The Board agrees, since it finds that pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (c), reconsideration of the December 1985 rating decision is warranted. This regulation provides that if at any time after VA issues a decision on a claim, VA receives or associates with the claims file relevant official service department records that existed and had not been associated with the claims file when VA first decided the claim, VA will reconsider the claim, notwithstanding the new and material evidence requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(a). 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c)(1); see also Vigil v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 63 (2008). Here, the 2012 Board decision granted the claim, in part, as directly related to service and the additional service records are relevant to service connection on a direct basis. Accordingly, the Board finds that an effective date of December 31, 1984, the date the Veteran’s original claim for service connection was received, is warranted for the grant of service connection for major depression pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c)(1). K. A. BANFIELD Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD D. Van Wambeke, Counsel