The Board denied service connection for a right knee disorder, diagnosed as medial and lateral meniscal tears, synovitis, and chondromalacia, finding that the evidence did not support a link between the veteran's current knee condition and his military service.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence of record related the veteran's current right knee disability to post-service employment rather than to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- medial and lateral meniscal tears, synovitis, chondromalacia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2009
- Citation
- 0902383
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 251 · Granted: 25% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0902383.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted a readjudication of the claim for service connection for right knee disorder. The claims for right leg shortening are remanded due to their inextricability with the right knee disorder claim.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial rating for left knee disability, characterized by painful motion but not ankylosis, flexion limited to 45 degrees or less, extension of 10 degrees or greater, instability, or subluxation, was denied as his symptoms did not warrant a higher rating.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected left knee disability is not productive of actual or functional flexion limited to 30 degrees, extension limited to 10 degrees, lateral instability or recurrent subluxation, ankylosis, impairment of the tibia and fibula, dislocated semilunar cartilage, symptomatic removal of semilunar cartilage, or genu recurvatum. Therefore, his claim for an evaluation in excess of 10 percent is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's SMC and TDIU claims are remanded due to a duty to assist error regarding the assessment of his service-connected bilateral hand palmar hyperkeratosis. A VA examination is needed to determine if there is loss of use of the hands, including distinguishing between symptoms attributable to the service-connected condition and any non-service-connected conditions.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.