Citation Nr: 21025343 Decision Date: 04/27/21 Archive Date: 04/27/21 DOCKET NO. 19-34 630 DATE: April 27, 2021 ORDER The claim of entitlement to an effective date prior to January 16, 2018, for the grant of service connection for Parkinson’s disease, to include his separately rated symptoms, is allowed, effective as of March 1, 2012. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. September 2013 and April 2015 rating decisions denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease. 2. Since the September 2013 and April 2015 rating decisions, relevant official service department records were added to the claims file. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to an effective date of March 1, 2012, for the grant of service connection for Parkinson’s disease and related symptoms, have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (c), 3.400. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had honorable active duty service with the United States Air Force from May 1964 to May 1968. In February 2021, the Veteran testified at a virtual teleconference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing is of record. The issue was initially characterized as entitlement to an effective date prior to January 16, 2018, for a neurocognitive disorder associated with Parkinson’s disease. The June 2018 rating decision granted service connection for various symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The July 2018 rating decision granted service connection for a neurocognitive disorder associated with Parkinson’s disease. The October 2018 notice of disagreement listed the July 2018 rating decision and the Veteran expressed dissatisfaction with the effective date for the neurocognitive disorder. The Veteran argued that the VA failed to obtain the Veteran’s service records showing service in Vietnam. The Board will sympathetically and liberally construe the Veteran’s notice of disagreement as contesting the effective date for the grant of service connection for Parkinson’s disease and the separately rated symptoms as listed in the June 2018 and July 2018 rating decisions. Entitlement to an effective date prior to January 16, 2018, for the grant of service connection for Parkinson’s disease, to include his separately rated symptoms. Generally, the effective date of an award based on an original claim for compensation benefits, if received more than one year after the claimant’s discharge from service, shall be the date of receipt of the claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. 38 U.S.C. § 5110 (a); 38 C.F.R. § 3.400 (b)(2)(i). Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.400 (r), the effective date based on a reopened claim is the date of receipt of the claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. 38 U.S.C. § 5110. The effective date, “shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of application therefore.” 38 U.S.C. § 5110 (a). Generally, a claim that has been denied in an unappealed AOJ decision may not thereafter be reopened and allowed. 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (c). However, 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. In other words, rather than reopening the claim, it is considered to still be pending from the earlier denial. Relevant official service department records include, but are not limited to: (i) Service records that are related to a claimed in-service event, injury, or disease, regardless of whether such records mention the veteran by name, as long as the other requirements of paragraph (c) of this section are met; (ii) Additional service records forwarded by the Department of Defense or the service department to VA any time after VA’s original request for service records; and (iii) Declassified records that could not have been obtained because the records were classified when VA decided the claim. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (c)(1). Paragraph (c)(1) of this section does not apply to records that VA could not have obtained when it decided the claim because the records did not exist when VA decided the claim, or because the claimant failed to provide sufficient information for VA to identify and obtain the records from the respective service department, the Joint Services Records Research Center, or from any other official source. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (c)(2). The AOJ initially denied service connection for Parkinson’s disease in September 2013. The AOJ determined that the record did not establish service in the Republic of Vietnam. In an April 2015 rating decision, the AOJ denied the claim to reopen the issue of entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease. The AOJ continued to find that the evidence did not show in-country service in the Republic of Vietnam. The Veteran did not appeal the denials or submit any pertinent evidence within the appeal periods. New and material evidence would usually be required to reopen the claim. However, in June 2018, the Veteran submitted relevant service department records, which existed but had not been associated with the claims file at the time of the prior decisions. Specifically, the Veteran submitted a November 1967 travel voucher confirming service in the Republic of Vietnam. This document was the basis for the subsequent grant of service connection for Parkinson’s disease and the separately rated symptoms. The June 2018 and July 2018 rating decisions granted service connection for Parkinson’s disease and related symptoms, and assigned an effective date of January 16, 2018, the date VA received the Veteran’s claim to reopen. The Board finds that the travel voucher was relevant to the claim and that the Veteran provided sufficient information in the original claim for the VA to identify and obtain the record. Specifically, in June 2013, the Veteran stated that he completed two temporary duty assignments to the Philippines with rotations in and out of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Based on the foregoing, the Board finds that relevant service records were added to the claims file after the initial rating decision in September 2013. Therefore, the Veteran is entitled to an effective date of March 1, 2012, which is the date of receipt of the Veteran’s original claim for service connection for Parkinson’s disease. 38 C.F.R. § 3.400 (b)(2). B. MULLINS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. McKinley, 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.