## Facts

- Terrance D. Massie, a U.S. Army veteran, had service-connected varicose veins, rated 50% effective March 1990.
- On April 4, 2001, Massie filed a claim for an increased rating and submitted a May 1999 letter from a VA physician describing chronic venous insufficiency and significant pain with standing.
- The VA Regional Office awarded a 100% rating effective April 4, 2001.
- Massie sought an earlier effective date (April 4, 2000), arguing that the increase was ascertainable within one year of his claim or that the 1999 physician letter functioned as an informal claim.
- The Board of Veterans’ Appeals denied an earlier effective date, finding the 1999 letter was more than one year before the 2001 claim, reflected an ongoing chronic condition, and did not show treatment during the relevant one-year period.
- On appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Massie argued the physician letter qualified as an informal claim under 38 C.F.R. § 3.157(b) and advanced an additional effective-date theory not presented to the Board, despite being represented by counsel throughout the agency proceedings.

## Issues

1. Whether a May 1999 VA physician letter, submitted with an April 4, 2001 increased-rating claim, constituted an informal claim under 38 C.F.R. § 3.157(b) supporting an earlier effective date under 38 U.S.C. § 5110(b)(2) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(o)(2).
2. Whether the court should consider a new theory for an earlier effective date raised for the first time on appeal when the claimant was represented by counsel before the agency.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the Board’s denial of an effective date earlier than April 4, 2001 for the 100% rating.
- The court held the May 1999 physician letter did not qualify as an informal claim under 38 C.F.R. § 3.157(b).
- The court agreed that the letter did not establish a factually ascertainable increase warranting a 100% rating within the one-year period preceding April 4, 2001.
- The court exercised its discretion not to consider the new effective-date theory raised for the first time on appeal, emphasizing issue-exhaustion concerns where the claimant was represented by counsel.

## Legal Principles

- Under 38 U.S.C. § 5110(b)(2) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(o)(2), an earlier effective date for an increased rating is available only if the increase is factually ascertainable within the one-year period prior to the claim.
- A medical communication does not qualify as an informal claim under 38 C.F.R. § 3.157(b) unless it satisfies the regulation’s requirements for treating certain reports of examination or hospitalization as a claim for increase.
- The Veterans Court may decline to address theories not raised before the Board, particularly when the claimant was represented by counsel during the administrative process and the theory could have been presented to the agency for initial consideration.

## Conclusion

The Veterans Court upheld the April 4, 2001 effective date for Massie’s 100% rating, concluding that the May 1999 physician letter was not a qualifying informal claim and did not show a factually ascertainable increase within the one-year look-back period, and it declined to entertain a new effective-date theory first raised on judicial review.


Massie v. Shinseki, 25 Vet. App. 123 (2011)