Veterans Law Judge
Judge K. Millikan: BVA decisions and outcomes
From 2017 to 2025, Veterans Law Judge K. Millikan signed 3,709 Board decisions covering 7,680 condition issues. The judge granted 13.2% of those issues, denied 19.6% and remanded 63.4%. For the same mix of conditions, the rest of the Board granted 19.1% and remanded 48.3%, so this judge's grant rate is below the Board's and the remand rate is above it.
Decisions
3,709
2017–2025
Issues decided
7,680
One issue per condition per decision
Issues granted
13.2%
Board, same conditions: 19.1%
Issues remanded
63.4%
Board, same conditions: 48.3%
Judges do not choose their cases, and grant rates differ a lot by condition. “Board, same conditions” is what the rest of the Board decided for the same mix of conditions, so the comparison is fair to the judge's docket. This is not a ranking.
Conditions this judge decided most
Each row compares the judge's issues on one condition with the rest of the Board's issues on the same condition. Conditions with fewer than 20 of this judge's issues are left out, because a few decisions can swing the rate.
| Condition | Issues | Granted | Board granted | Remanded | Board remanded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knee impairment | 664 | 12.2% | 17.3% | 66.9% | 51.0% |
| Hearing loss | 432 | 10.6% | 19.5% | 54.6% | 34.5% |
| Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | 395 | 24.3% | 28.9% | 52.7% | 38.0% |
| Degenerative arthritis of the spine (spondylosis) | 286 | 16.1% | 20.7% | 59.1% | 46.0% |
| Tinnitus | 252 | 43.3% | 39.6% | 29.0% | 22.7% |
| Hypertension | 242 | 11.2% | 17.2% | 67.4% | 48.7% |
| Intervertebral disc syndrome | 216 | 7.9% | 18.7% | 69.9% | 47.9% |
| Sleep apnea syndromes (obstructive central mixed) | 206 | 16.5% | 26.3% | 63.6% | 50.3% |
| Peripheral nerve disorders | 177 | 8.5% | 20.6% | 75.7% | 51.6% |
| Shoulder impairment | 167 | 6.6% | 14.3% | 71.9% | 53.0% |
| Migraine | 167 | 19.2% | 30.2% | 59.9% | 42.1% |
| Diabetes mellitus | 124 | 19.4% | 20.0% | 54.8% | 40.0% |
| Ankle impairment | 119 | 6.7% | 16.9% | 60.5% | 50.4% |
| Hip impairment | 116 | 3.4% | 14.4% | 67.2% | 53.8% |
| Cervical spine limitation of motion | 114 | 5.3% | 13.2% | 81.6% | 58.3% |
Judge K. Millikan's decisions by year
| Year | Decisions | Granted | Denied | Remanded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 441 | 16.8% | 29.7% | 69.6% |
| 2018 | 847 | 23.8% | 26.3% | 71.4% |
| 2019 | 852 | 26.8% | 30.2% | 69.5% |
| 2020 | 856 | 25.8% | 28.7% | 68.3% |
| 2021 | 307 | 21.5% | 34.9% | 64.5% |
| 2022 | 59 | 28.8% | 35.6% | 59.3% |
| 2023 | 343 | 28.0% | 31.8% | 65.9% |
Why the Board granted or denied issues in Judge K. Millikan's decisions
Most common reasons in grants
- Current diagnosis established225
- Service connection established18
- Caused by the service-connected disability17
- Criteria for service connection met8
- Continuity of symptoms since service7
- Resolving all doubt in veteran's favor6
- Nexus to service found5
- Aggravated by the service-connected disability5
Most common reasons in denials
- Preponderance of the evidence against the claim84
- No in-service complaints, treatment or diagnosis74
- No current diagnosis60
- Current diagnosis established55
- VA examiner: less likely than not related to service44
- Service records negative or silent33
- No continuity of symptomatology12
- Already at the maximum schedular rating10
Numbers are decisions that gave the reason. Reasons are short phrases extracted by AI from each decision; common wordings of the same reason are grouped. Benefit of the doubt is reported above.
Recent Judge K. Millikan decisions
Granted
PACT Act codifies COPD as presumptive for qualifying service; Veteran has diagnosis of COPD; Veteran has qualifying Persian Gulf service
Veteran credibly reported pain; Pain indicated on August 6, 2018 examination; Granted 10 percent rating from July 6, 2017
Symptoms approximated chronic conjunctivitis (DC 6018); Active disease warrants minimum 10% rating; Visual impairment and incapacitating episodes did not meet criteria for higher rating
Denied
Range of motion and pain limitations did not meet criteria for higher rating.; VA examinations did not document objective findings for abnormal gait, spinal contour, or severe muscle spasm.; No evidence of favorable or unfavorable ankylosis or incapacitating episodes.
Evidence does not support incapacitating episodes requiring bed rest for higher rating.; Evidence does not support ankylosis of the spine.; Functional limitations are contemplated by current 20% rating.
New and material evidence received since the last final denial met the criteria to reopen the claim.; Evidence persuasively weighs against finding that the Veteran's CLL began during service or is otherwise related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.; Veteran's lay testimony regarding herbicide exposure was not sufficient to establish a nexus for CLL, as it is a medically complex issue requiring expert opinion.
Research your Judge K. Millikan case
Narrow by year, judge, evidence or secondary condition, read the decisions, and export a research memo.
How these numbers are calculated
- Issue rates count each condition the Board decided in a decision once, by the outcome of that issue. A decision can grant one issue and deny another.
- The yearly table counts decisions: a decision with a granted issue and a denied issue appears in both columns, so a row can add up to more than 100%.
- "Board, same conditions" weights the rest of the Board's grant and remand rate for each condition by how many of this judge's issues were on that condition. It does not adjust for evidence, hearing type or representation.
- Judges are identified from the signature on each decision. This page is a statistical summary, not an evaluation of any judge.
- The data comes from CaseScribe's AI extraction of public BVA decisions (2017–2025) and can contain errors. It is updated automatically as new decisions are added.