Citation Nr: 18157023 Decision Date: 12/11/18 Archive Date: 12/11/18 DOCKET NO. 16-58 686 DATE: December 11, 2018 ORDER An effective date earlier than March 25, 2015, for the grant of service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Service connection for PTSD was denied in an unappealed April 1999 rating decision. 2. An application to reopen the previously denied claim for service connection for PTSD was not received until March 25, 2015. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for an effective date prior to March 25, 2015, for the award of service connection for PTSD are not met. 38 C.F.R. § 3.400. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from December 1978 to January 1983 and February 1984 to September 1989. This case comes before the Board of Veteran’s Appeals (Board) on appeal of a September 2015 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran seeks an effective date of March 1999 for the award of service connection for PTSD. The Veteran initially sought service connection for a mental health disorder secondary to an in-service head injury in February 1998. See VA 21-526. The RO denied the claim in an April 1999 rating decision. The Veteran did not file a notice of disagreement, submit pertinent evidence during the appeal period, or otherwise indicate any intent to appeal the decision. Thus, the April 1999 rating decision is final. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 20.302, 20.1103. The Veteran requested reopening of his claim for service connection for PTSD on March 25, 2015. A September 2015 rating decision granted service connection for the disability effective from March 25, 2015, the date that VA received the Veteran’s application to reopen the service connection claim. In support of his claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for his PTSD, the Veteran argues that the effective date should be March 29, 1999, because he suffered from PTSD at the time he initially filed a claim for service connection and records to support his initial claim were either lost, stolen at the time of the initial denial. See Form 9 received November 2016. Regarding the Veteran’s argument that pertinent records were lost, stolen, or withheld by the Navy at the time of his original claim, the record shows that his service treatment records were available and considered in the April 1999 rating decision. The Veteran has not identified the specific records that he believes were unavailable at that time. To the contrary, the April 1999 rating decision reflects consideration of his pertinent service and post-service medical records. Thus, there is no basis to grant an earlier effective date based on this argument. Moreover, record does not show that the Veteran submitted any evidence to support his initial claim or filed to reopen the denial claim for service connection prior to his March 2015 application. Because the Veteran filed his request to reopen the previously denied claim on March 25, 2015, that is the correct effective date for the grant of service connection. 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(r) (with respect to claims to reopen, the effective date for an award of benefits will be the date of the new claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later) (emphasis added). The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims held in Sears v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 244, 248 (2002), that [t]he statutory framework simply does not allow for the Board to reach back to the date of the original claim as a possible effective date for an award of service-connected benefits that is predicated upon a reopened claim. See also Cook v. Principi, 258 F.3d 1311, 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (affirming assignment of an effective date for a service-connection award based upon the reopened claim as the date on which the Veteran first sought to reopen his claim). (Continued on the next page)   There is no legal basis to grant an effective date prior to March 25, 2015, for the award of service connection for PTSD. The Board has considered the doctrine of affording the Veteran the benefit of any existing doubt with regard to the issue on appeal; however, because there is no legal basis for the assignment of an earlier effective date, such doctrine is not applicable. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. In a case, such as this, in which the law is dispositive, the claim must be denied due to lack of legal merit. Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). Accordingly, under 38 C.F.R. § 3.400, the Veteran’s claim for an earlier effective date is denied as a matter of law. DELYVONNE M. WHITEHEAD Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. E., Associate Counsel