The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to new and material evidence, but did not find any clear and unmistakable error in the previous rating decisions.
The deciding factor: The evidence was not so unequivocal that reasonable minds could not differ as to whether service connection should have been granted based on the existing record at the time of the April 2008 decision.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder arthralgia, facial rash, residuals low back injury, stress fractures bilateral feet, acne scalp
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19103014
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 19103014.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher ratings for left shoulder arthralgia and lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with DDD, granted service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the lumbar spine disability, and remanded claims for increased ratings of other musculoskeletal conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claims for service connection for an underarm rash, a neck rash, and a facial rash are remanded for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found the previous VA examinations inadequate and ordered a new in-person examination at the Fresno VA Medical Center. The remand requires an examination to determine if the Veteran's facial rash and fatigue are related to his service, including his service in Southwest Asia.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left and right shoulder conditions due to inadequate medical opinions. Further development is needed to obtain an adequate opinion based on the Veteran's reports of in-service injuries.
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