The Board has reopened the claim for service connection due to new and material evidence, including a January 2017 DBQ, a January 2020 private opinion, and a July 2017 VA examination. The Veteran's DJD of the left ankle is found to be related to his in-service ankle injury.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that the Veteran has ongoing symptomatology since service and credible evidence linking this current disability to an in-service event.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) of the left ankle, Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20066484
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,435 · Granted: 22% (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 20066484.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence of a current bilateral foot pain disorder related to service and denied the claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation for the entire appeal period prior to January 29, 2010. The Board granted a TDIU on an extra-schedular basis.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings for various ankle and knee conditions have been dismissed due to the Veteran's withdrawal of his appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for a retrospective medical opinion regarding his left ankle disability prior to November 18, 2011, and for extraschedular consideration of his claim since November 18, 2011.
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