The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been received to reopen the evaluation of service connection for lower back and neck injuries. The claims are now remanded for further development, including a VA examination.
The deciding factor: New and material evidence was found in the form of medical evidence and lay testimony related to the Veteran's in-service fall that caused his back and neck injury.
- Claimed conditions
- lower back injury, neck injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19151255
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (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 19151255.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's request to recognize his December 17, 2008 correspondence as a timely and valid Notice of Disagreement (NOD) with the November 2008 rating decision. The underlying compensation claims will be addressed in a separate Board decision under the Legacy appeal system.
- Granted
The Veteran's kidney stones, neck injury, asthma, and right leg or knee disability are all granted. The Veteran is also awarded a 30% rating for his neck injury. However, the claims for service connection for asthma and right leg or right knee disabilities are remanded due to lack of proper development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including failure to obtain VA and private medical records related to his hip conditions, neck injury, and right shoulder injury.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for anxiety was denied as the evidence did not support a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder.,The Veteran's claim for increased rating for depression was denied because his symptoms were consistent with those already covered by his existing service-connected disability.
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