Citation Nr: 20021467 Decision Date: 03/25/20 Archive Date: 03/25/20 DOCKET NO. 16-24 038 DATE: March 25, 2020 ORDER The claim of entitlement to an effective date earlier than February 6, 2014 for the award of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Service connection for PTSD was denied in a February 2012 rating decision; although the Veteran filed a timely notice of disagreement (NOD) with the denial and a statement of the case (SOC) was issued in July 2013, the Veteran did not thereafter timely perfect an appeal of the denial. 2. On February 6, 2014, the Veteran filed a claim to reopen his previously denied claim for service connection for PTSD. 3. Following development, in a March 2015 rating decision, the RO awarded service connection for PTSD, effective February 6, 2014 (the date the RO received the Veteran’s request to reopen the previously denied service connection claim). 4. There was no pending claim, filed prior to February 6, 2014, pursuant to which the benefit ultimately awarded could have been granted. CONCLUSION OF LAW The claim of entitlement to an effective date earlier than February 6, 2014 for the award of service connection for PTSD is without legal merit. 38 U.S.C. § 5101, 5110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.151, 3.400. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from September 2005 to September 2010. This appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) arose from a March 2015 rating decision in which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), inter alia, granted service connection PTSD and assigned a 50 percent rating effective February 6, 2014. Later in March 2015, the Veteran filed an (NOD with this denial. An SOC was issued in March 2016, and the Veteran filed a substantive appeal (via a VA Form 9, Appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals) in May 2016. In February 2019, the Veteran testified during a Board videoconference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing has been associated with the Veteran’s claims file. Earlier Effective Date The Veteran seeks an effective date earlier than February 6, 2014, for the award of service connection for PTSD. He has asserted that the effective date should be back to 2010, when he originally filed his claim for service connection for PTSD. Unless specifically provided otherwise, the effective date for a grant of service connection is the day after separation from service or day entitlement arose, if a claim is received within one year of separation from service; otherwise, the date of receipt of claim, or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. 38 U.S.C. § 5110(b)(1); 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(b)(2)(i). The effective date of an award based on a claim reopened after final adjudication “shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of application therefor.” 38 U.S.C. § 5110(a). The implementing regulation clarifies this to mean that the effective date of service connection based on a reopened claim will be the “[d]ate of receipt of claim or date entitlement arose, whichever is later.” 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(r). The basic facts in this case are fairly simple. On October 14, 2010, the Veteran filed a formal claim seeking service connection for several disabilities, including PTSD. In a February 2012 rating decision, the RO denied the claim for service connection for PTSD and the Veteran was notified of this decision in a March 16, 2012 letter. He filed a timely NOD with the denial in March 2013, and, in July 2013, the RO issued an SOC. However, neither the Veteran nor his representative perfected the appeal with a timely-filed substantive appeal. Thereafter, the Veteran filed a petition to reopen his claim for service connection for PTSD on February 6, 2014, and, pursuant to that claim, service connection for PTSD was ultimately granted. The award was made effective as of the date of the February 2014 claim to reopen. Although the Veteran asserts that he is entitled to an earlier effective date for both awards of service connection, considering the record in light of the governing legal authority, the Board finds that no earlier effective date is assignable. As noted, although the record clearly evidences the Veteran’s earlier, 2010 claim for service connection for PTSD, that claim was denied in a February 2012 rating decision, and the Veteran initiated, but failed to timely perfect, an appeal of the earlier denial. See 38 U.S.C. § 7105(a) and 38 C.F.R. § 20.200 (appellate review is initiated by a NOD and completed by a substantive appeal filed after an SOC has been furnished to an appellant). Notably, a substantive appeal must be filed within 60 days from the date of mailing of an SOC, or within the remainder of the one-year period from the date of mailing of the notification of the determination being appealed, whichever period ends later. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(b)(2); 38 C.F.R. § 20.302(b). In the absence of a properly perfected appeal, the RO may close the appeal and the decision becomes final. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(d)(3); Roy v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 554, 556 (1993); 38 C.F.R. § 19.32. In this case, as neither the Veteran nor his representative filed any document that could be construed as a timely substantive appeal pertaining to the claim for service connection for PTSD within 60 days following the issuance of the July 2013 SOC, the RO appropriately closed the appeal. Therefore, the RO’s February 2012 denial of the claim is final as to the evidence then of record (and at the time of the July 2013 SOC issued in furtherance of the unperfected appeal of that denial). See 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 20.302, 20.1103. In other words, the 2010 claim was finally resolved, and hence, was not pending at the time of subsequent award of service connection for PTSD. Furthermore, there is no correspondence from the Veteran, or other document or evidence, dated or received after the final, February 2012 denial (and the July 2013 SSOC issued in furtherance of the unperfected appeal of that denial) but prior to the February 6, 2014 request to reopen the previously denied claim, that could be interpreted an informal claim for service connection for PTSD under the legal authority then in effect. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.151(2013-2014). Thus, although the Veteran generally argues that an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for PTSD is warranted, such argument is without legal merit. Simply stated, at the time the RO granted service connection for PTSD in March 2015, there was no pending claim, filed prior to February 6, 2014, pursuant to which the benefit ultimately awarded could have been granted, and, thus, no legal basis for assignment of an earlier effective date for the award. Accordingly, the assigned effective date for the award of service connection for PTSD could be no earlier that the date the reopened claim was received—the effective date assigned by the RO. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(r). The legal authority governing effective dates is clear and specific, and the Board is bound by such authority. As, under the circumstances in this case, there is no legal basis for assignment of any earlier effective date for the award of service connection for PTSD, the claim on appeal must be denied as without legal merit. See Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). JACQUELINE E. MONROE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board H. Rasul, Associate Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.