The Board has reopened the Veteran's claims for service connection for a lumbar spine disorder and right lower extremity disability due to new evidence received since the final decisions. However, these claims are still pending as further development is needed.,The Veteran’s testimony indicates that his current back pain and leg issues may be related to an in-service injury, but more records need to be obtained from VA and other sources.
The deciding factor: New evidence received since the final decisions raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claims for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Lumbar Spine Disorder (Congenital Anomaly), Right Lower Extremity Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19165291
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,500 · Granted: 29% (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 19165291.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection of disabilities of the bilateral lower extremities require additional development due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors. The case is being remanded to provide an appropriate VA examination and obtain necessary medical opinions.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of March 25, 2019, for the 100% evaluation of Major Depressive Disorder is granted. The Veteran's claim for TDIU is denied as she was not found to be unemployable due to her service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's disability ratings for his left and right lower extremity disabilities were improperly reduced, and the VA has been ordered to restore the original ratings.,The Veteran's back disability was also remanded due to insufficient evidence of improvement.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to new evidence and inconsistencies in previous decisions. The Veteran is required to provide authorization for VA to obtain his Social Security Administration records, as well as undergo examinations to determine the nature and etiology of various disabilities.
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