The appeal was dismissed due to the death of the appellant, and no service connection issues were decided.
The deciding factor: The appeal was dismissed because the appellant died during the pendency of the appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee injury, left knee arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20008006
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for left knee arthritis, right knee arthritis, and tinnitus. The increased evaluation claim for pes planus was denied, as was the increase in rating for the right wrist fracture. The reduction of the right wrist rating from 10 percent to 0 percent was found improper, restoring the 10 percent rating.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and remanded the claims for bilateral hand, hip, knee, and lumbosacral arthritis to provide further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left knee arthritis and right knee arthritis based on new and relevant evidence.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a separate noncompensable rating for left knee arthritis based on limitation of extension from August 11, 2015 to June 18, 2020 and a 10 percent rating, but no higher, for the same condition from June 18, 2020 to January 6, 2021. The claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for left knee arthritis from November 25, 2013 to January 6, 2021 was denied.
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