Citation Nr: 22011489 Decision Date: 03/01/22 Archive Date: 03/01/22 DOCKET NO. 15-42 317 DATE: March 1, 2022 ORDER Service connection for a cervical spine disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran began experiencing symptoms of his current cervical spine disability in service and has continued to experience such symptomatology since that time. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a cervical spine disability are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 1979 to October 1979, and had further periods of active duty for training (ACDUTRA), including from April 1982 to May 1982. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2011 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In an April 2019 decision, the Board denied service connection for a cervical spine disability. The Veteran appealed the Board's April 2019 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), which issued a memorandum decision in June 2021 that vacated and remanded the Board's decision denying service connection for a cervical spine disability for action consistent with the terms of the decision. Service Connection for a Cervical Spine Disability Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Active service includes active duty, any period of ACDUTRA during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty, any period of inactive duty for training (INACDUTRA) during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from an injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty, or from an acute myocardial infarction, a cardiac arrest, or a cerebrovascular accident occurring during such training. 38 U.S.C. § 101 (24); 38 C.F.R. § 3.6. Furthermore, a layperson is competent to report on the onset and continuity of his or her current symptomatology. Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 470 (1994) (a veteran is competent to report on that of which he or she has personal knowledge). The Veteran contends that his current cervical spine disability began during a period of ACDUTRA which spanned from April 30, 1982, to May 16, 1982. The Veteran has several cervical diagnoses of record, including cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy and spinal stenosis in cervical region. See June 2014 Private Treatment Record. Thus, the current disability prong is met, and the remaining question is whether his cervical spine disability is medically linked to any incident of service or whether it onset therein. The Veteran has repeatedly asserted that he began experiencing cervical spine symptoms following a motor vehicle accident in which he was involved in May 1982 while he was on ACDUTRA. His service treatment records include corroborating reports of a medical examination dated May 13, 1982, which show that the Veteran was treated for a neck injury after his vehicle collided with another vehicle. These reports also confirm that the Veteran was on ACDUTRA at the time of the accident. He has not made any statements regarding the onset of these symptoms that contradicts the ACDUTRA onset. Thus, his statements about his cervical spine symptoms and their onset are credible, and his lay reports are sufficient to establish service connection. The Board recognizes that March 2011 and October 2015 VA examiners opined against service connection for the Veteran's cervical spine disability. However, while the Board cannot ignore or disregard the VA examiners' medical conclusions [Willis v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 66 (1991)], the Board is free to assess medical evidence and is not compelled to accept a medical opinion. Wilson v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 614 (1992). The examiners' negative service connection opinions failed to consider the Veteran's lay reports of having experienced symptoms of his cervical spine disability since service, and were based upon the lack of objective medical evidence of continued treatment following service. The Veteran is competent to report the onset and history of his cervical spine symptoms. As this competent evidence was not considered in rendering the negative direct service connection nexus opinions, the Board affords these opinions minimal, if any, probative weight. In light of the above, the Board finds the Veteran's competent, credible reports of his cervical spine disability symptoms having onset after a documented motor vehicle accident which occurred during a period of ACDUTRA to be more probative than the 2011 and 2015 VA examiners' negative service connection nexus opinions which did not address all relevant evidence. The weight of the evidence supports a finding that the Veteran's cervical spine disability symptoms onset in service and have continued since then. Thus, service connection for a cervical spine disability is warranted, as it is a current disability that onset in active service. CLAIRE M. DAVIDOSKI Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board S. Battaile 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.