The Board has remanded the claim of entitlement to a total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected lumbosacral strain with spondylosis for further development, including an addendum VA medical opinion regarding the Veteran's ability to perform sedentary work.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examiner did not discuss the Veteran’s lay statements about his severe back pain and its impact on his ability to sit and perform sedentary work.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbosacral strain with spondylosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 2, 2020
- Citation
- 20064406
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,456 · Granted: 23% (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 20064406.
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 Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of July 14, 2005 for SMC based on housebound status is granted. The decision finds that the Veteran has a single disability rated as total (left knee disability via extraschedular TDIU from February 25, 2005) and separate service-connected disabilities ratable at a combined 60 percent disabling (acquired psychiatric disorder at 70 percent from July 14, 2005), as required by the law.
- Granted
The Veteran's lumbosacral strain with spondylosis was granted service connection. The claims for left and right flat feet were remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board denied earlier effective dates for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, higher ratings for the same condition, a rating greater than 10 percent for tinnitus, and a rating greater than 20 percent for lumbosacral strain with spondylosis. However, it granted an earlier effective date of April 29, 2023, for tinnitus.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial rating for chronic orthopedic symptoms of lumbosacral strain with spondylosis is denied as the evidence does not meet the criteria for a higher than 10 percent rating.,The Veteran's initial rating for associated lumbar radiculopathy, LLE, is denied as the evidence does not meet the criteria for a higher than 10 percent rating.
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