Citation Nr: 21002325 Decision Date: 01/13/21 Archive Date: 01/13/21 DOCKET NO. 16-30 684 DATE: January 13, 2021 ORDER Service connection for a right hip strain is granted. A total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) prior to January 12, 2015 is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran’s right hip strain is proximately due to his service-connected lumbosacral strain with scoliosis. 2. Prior to January 12, 2015, the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities precluded him from engaging in substantially gainful employment. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for right hip strain as secondary to lumbosacral strain with scoliosis are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.310. 2. Prior to January 12, 2015, the criteria for a TDIU have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1155, 5103; 38 C.F.R. § 4.16. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran had active duty for training in the U.S. Army from May 2001 to August 2001 and active service from September 2002 to September 2005. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2014 rating decision. The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a Board hearing in September 2019. The above-listed issues were remanded for additional development in January 2020. 1. Service connection for a right hip strain A September 2020 VA examination shows the Veteran has a current disability of right hip strain, and VA examiner opined that it is at least as likely as not proximately due to his service-connected lumbosacral strain. Upon review of the record, the Board finds the evidence to at least be in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s current right hip strain is secondary to his lumbosacral strain. Accordingly, after resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that service connection is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. 2. A TDIU prior to January 12, 2015 A TDIU may be assigned where the schedular rating is less than total, when it is found that the disabled person is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of a single service-connected disability ratable at 60 percent or more, or as a result of two or more disabilities, provided at least one disability is ratable at 40 percent or more, and there is sufficient additional service-connected disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16(a). The Board previously awarded a TDIU for the period from January 12, 2015, because the Veteran met the schedular criteria as of that date. For the period prior to January 12, 2015, the Board remanded the matter to allow the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to implement a grant of service connection for a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, and to readjudicate claims for service connection for the bilateral hips and right foot. The AOJ subsequent granted service connection for the left hip and right foot, and now the Veteran meets the schedular criteria for a TDIU prior to January 12, 2015. During his period, he is service-connected for trauma and stressor-related disorder, lumbosacral strain with scoliosis, left hip strain, and TMJ disorder. In light of the grant discussed above, he is also service-connected for right hip strain. As discussed in the January 2020 decision, the Veteran worked as a highway patrol dispatcher from December 2008 to June 2013. He has a four-year college degree in criminal justice, and he started a small chapel in January 2016 to do pastoral counseling. A copy of his Social Security Administration (SSA) earnings statement shows that he earned $29,073.00 in 2012 and only $19,795.00 in 2013, consistent with his statement that he stopped working in June 2013. He earned nothing in 2014. He reportedly left his job as a dispatcher due to complications of his service-connected stressor-related disorder, including an outburst and inability to work with others. Notably, the only evidence addressing functional impairment during this period on appeal is a September 2014 VA examination which found that PTSD resulted in an occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of an inability to perform occupational tasks. Subsequently generated evidence shows difficulty with bending, crouching and kneeling due to lumbosacral strain and hip disabilities. Although the evidence for the period prior to January 12, 2015 is scant, the Board will resolve any doubts in the Veteran’s favor in finding that a TDIU is warranted for that period. The Board reasonably infers that the impairment associated with lumbosacral strain and bilateral hip disabilities documented subsequent to January 2015 was present prior to that time. Given that this impairment, when viewed alongside the impairment associated with his stressor-related disorder, was (Continued on the next page)   sufficient to establish a TDIU from January 2015, the Board finds that it likely precluded gainful employment prior to that date as well. JOHN Z. JONES Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Shamil Patel, 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.