Citation Nr: 25008317 Decision Date: 06/24/25 Archive Date: 06/24/25 DOCKET NO. 19-31 740 DATE: June 24, 2025 ORDER An earlier date of April 11, 2017, for effectuating the award of service connection for a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the awards of monetary benefits. A total disability due to individual unemployability (TDIU) rating is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the awards of monetary benefits. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The evidence of record persuasively shows that the Veteran's entitlement to service connection for PTSD arose no later than the receipt date of his petition to reopen his claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder. 2. The evidence of record persuasively shows that the functional mental and physical limitations imposed by the Veteran's service-connected disabilities render him unable to secure and/or to follow a substantially occupation. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for effectuating the award of service connection for PTSD as of April 11, 2017, have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.400. 2. The criteria for a TIDU have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. § 4.16. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from September 1970 to January 1974. This legacy appeal originates from the October 2017 and April 2020 rating decisions. Following the most recent November 2024 Board's remand, the Regional Office (RO) granted service connection for PTSD effectuated from November 20, 2024. Concurrently, the RO denied a TIDU rating. As reflected in a May 2025 Appellate Brief, the Veteran is contending that he is entitled to an effective date for PTSD prior to November 20, 2024, and a TIDU. In its July 2023 decision, the Board had found that the April 2015 and February 2016 rating decisions denying the Veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability are final. On April 11, 2017, VA received the Veteran's formal application for VA benefits, seeking service connection for "anger issues" and "frenzied mood," which was properly construed as his petition to reopen the previously decided claim for a psychiatric disability, then granted, and effectuated from November 20, 2024, the date of the VA examination rather the receipt date of his petition. The awards of service connection predicated upon reopened claims generally are effectuated as of the receipt date of claim to reopen or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(r). In an April 2025 supplemental statement of the case (SSOC), the RO notes that the Veteran's records are devoid of any psychiatric diagnosis prior to the date of the VA examination on November 20, 2024, which is the fundamental requirement for service connection for any psychiatric disability. Yet the date on which the claimed disability was first verified and formally diagnosed by a medical examination must not to be confused with the inquiry as to when the Veteran's entitlement to service connection arose, that is, when his PTSD determined to have been triggered by an in-service stressor manifested. See McGrath v. Gober, 14 Vet. App. 28, 35 (2000). To that end, a November 2020 VA mental health evaluation report reflects an examiner's opinion that the Veteran repeatedly, consistently, and in vivid details, has recounted a credible in-service stressor from 1972 and since then has been experiencing the associated clinically significant psychiatric symptomatology, to include intrusive thoughts, insomnia, nightmares, hypervigilance, mood instability, anger, and startle. The examiner further notes that the Veteran has never sought mental health treatment, which adequately explains the lack of an earlier diagnosis. In light of this medical evidence, wholly consistent with the evidence of record viewed as a whole, the Board found no rational explanation for the lack of an earlier PTSD diagnosis other than due to a substantial delay in reopening the Veteran's claim and providing him an adequate medical examination which merely confirmed the stressor and the associated symptomatology, both of which were clearly present on April 11, 2017, when the Veteran petitioned to reopen his claim. Absent any evidence of record affirmatively showing that the Veteran did not have PTSD or otherwise would not have met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD at that time, the Board finds that the Veteran's entitlement to the sought benefit has arisen no later than the receipt date of his petition to reopen the claim. As such, service connection for PTSD should be effectuated as of April 11, 2017, but not earlier. Generally, under no circumstances may the claim received more than one year after the last final disallowance of the same claim (in this case denied in February 2016) be effectuated prior to the receipt date of petition to reopen, in this case received on April 11, 2017. The only exception to this general rule arises in cases, unlike here, involving a material change in representation. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(r). No other material issues have been expressly raised by the Veteran or reasonably raised by the evidence of record. Accordingly, the effective date of service connection for PTSD of April 11, 2017, is granted. A TDIU is an alternative rating tool utilized in cases, like this, where the combined disability evaluation is less than total (100 percent). 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). The legal criteria for a TIDU do not demand finding beyond every reasonable doubt that the Veteran is totally disabled or wholly unable to work. See Roberson v. Principi, 251 F.3d 1378 (Fed Cir. 2001). Rather, so long as the evidence of record shows that it is at least as likely as not that the physical and mental limitations imposed by the Veteran's service-connected disabilities render him unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation, a TIDU is granted. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). As reflected in an April 2025 TDIU application (VA Form 21-8940), the Veteran has been continuously employed in a substantially gainful occupation as an 18-wheeler driver since his discharge from service through March 7, 2025, when he retired. Although he retired voluntarily, the May 2025 Appellate Brief points out that the Veteran could no longer work due to both mental and physical limitations imposed by his PTSD ratable at 70 percent, lower back disability ratable at 40 percent, radiculopathy ratable at 20 percent for each lower extremity, along with compensable hypertension, tinnitus, and bilateral hearing loss, with the combined evaluation at 90 percent. The assigned rating percentages alone are sufficiently indicative of the corresponding severity levels of mental and physical impairments that would render the Veteran unemployable in any occupation. Accordingly, a TIDU is granted. MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Alex Bardin, 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.