Citation Nr: 21004778 Decision Date: 01/28/21 Archive Date: 01/28/21 DOCKET NO. 17-58 767 DATE: January 28, 2021 ORDER The petition to reopen the claim for service connection for a back disability is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Prior to this appeal, the Veteran was previously denied service connection for a back disability, most recently by a July 2011 rating decision. He did not perfect an appeal during the requisite time period, and the decision became final. 2. Evidence associated with the record since the July 2011 rating decision does not related to unestablished facts or raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim for service connection for a back disability. CONCLUSION OF LAW New and material evidence has not been received since the July 2011 rating decision and the claim seeking entitlement to service connection for a back disability is not reopened. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5108, 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 3.156. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from March 1982 to March 1985, in addition to service in the Reserves. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a September 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran testified at a hearing with the undersigned in March 2020. This issue was previously remanded by the Board in April 2020 and has since been returned for further adjudication. If a claim of entitlement to service connection has been previously denied and that decision became final, the claim can be reopened and reconsidered only if new and material evidence is presented with respect to that claim. 38 U.S.C. § 5108. New evidence means existing evidence not previously submitted to agency decision-makers. Material evidence means existing evidence that, by itself or when considered with previous evidence of record, relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim. New and material evidence can be neither cumulative nor redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the last prior final denial of the claim sought to be reopened, and must raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(a). The credibility of the evidence is presumed for purposes of reopening the claim. See Justus v. Principi, 3 Vet. App. 510, 513 (1992). The threshold for reopening is low. Shade v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 110, 117 (2010). The RO denied the Veteran’s claim of service connection for a back disability in a May 1998, January 2005, April 2009, and July 2011, finding that the Veteran’s back disability was not related to his military service. The Veteran filed a notice of disagreement with the July 2011 rating decision, but after a statement of the case was issued he failed to submit a timely substantive appeal. Therefore, the July 2011 rating decision is final. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.156, 20.302, 20.1103 (2010). The evidence received since the July 2011 rating decision is not new and material to the claim of service connection for a back disability. The Veteran has not submitted new evidence suggesting that his back disability is related to his military service or was caused or aggravated by a service-connected disability. Instead, he has submitted additional records showing treatment for his back disability and his statements that he believes the disability is related to his service. This evidence is cumulative to the evidence considered in the July 2011 rating decision and is therefore not material to the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159. As new and material evidence has not been received, the petition to reopen the claim for entitlement to service connection for a back disability is denied. Nathan Kroes Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Hofmeister, Attorney Advisor 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.