The Veteran's claim for service connection for a right ankle disability is remanded due to incomplete records and the need to determine if the injury occurred during active duty or ACDUTRA.
The deciding factor: Incomplete service personnel records require further investigation into all periods of active duty, including ACDUTRA and INACDUTRA, to determine if the Veteran's right ankle sprain occurred during a period of active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2020
- Citation
- 20006020
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (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 20006020.
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 a rating of 30 percent for the Veteran's right ankle sprain with pain and limitations in mobility, finding that his symptoms are functionally equivalent to ankylosis. The Veteran is not entitled to a higher rating as there is no evidence of actual ankylosis or ankylosis equivalent.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the appellant's right ankle sprain is related to an injury sustained during service and grants the claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's TDIU claim was denied because the evidence did not show that his service-connected PTSD rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings on several issues, including right ankle sprain and lumbosacral strain, has been remanded due to insufficient evidence in the record.
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