The Board has remanded the claims of service connection and rating for various knee, hip, and ankle disabilities due to procedural issues. The Veteran's left knee disability was reduced from 20% to 10%, but no SSOC was issued.
The deciding factor: Procedural errors in handling the Veteran's claims have been identified, including improper submission of a supplemental claim for service connection and failure to issue an SSOC following the reduction in rating for the left knee disability.
- Claimed conditions
- right hip disability, right knee disability (knee strain), right ankle disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20066092
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · 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 20066092.
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 decided to remand the Veteran's claims for left and right hip disabilities due to inadequate VA medical opinions. The Veteran will need an adequate VA medical opinion to determine if his hip disabilities are related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for left, right ankle disabilities, left and right hip disabilities, left and right shin splints, and left and right knee disabilities due to inadequate nexus opinions in the VA examination reports. The Veteran contends that her current disabilities are related to injuries sustained during basic training.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence has been received to reconsider the Veteran's claims for service connection for left hip, left knee, right hip, and lower back disabilities. The claim for left hip disability is remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to new evidence received, and a need for additional medical opinions considering the Veteran's military occupation as a water safety survival instructor.
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