The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for further development and consideration, including scheduling VA examinations to address his hip and ankle pain, as well as sleep and fatigue symptoms. The claims are being returned to the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) for readjudication.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the May 2012 informal claim constituted a request to reopen a previously denied claim of entitlement to service connection for joint pain and muscle soreness as part of a qualifying illness under 38 C.F.R. § 3.317, but did not address whether the Veteran's reports of hip and ankle pain qualify to establish the existence of a current disability for service connection purposes.
- Claimed conditions
- Hip Disorder, Left Ankle Disorder, Right Ankle Disorder, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Sleep Apnea, Joint Pain and Muscle Soreness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19165915
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (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 19165915.
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
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