The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for further development and readjudication due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the severity of his cervical spine and lumbar spine disabilities prior to August 23, 2011.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner was unable to provide an opinion without resorting to speculation based on limited examination findings from August and December 2009.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) and Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) of the cervical spine, DDD of the lumbar spine with spondylolisthesis and lumbar strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 19, 2020
- Citation
- 20067654
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 112 · Granted: 20% (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 20067654.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied a rating greater than 20 percent for the appellant's service-connected cervical spine disability and an initial rating of more than 30 percent for his headaches. The claim for entitlement to TDIU was also denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issues of service connection for cervical spine DJD and DDD, increased rating for right clubfoot with hammer toes and limited ankle motion since June 11, 2003, and TDIU prior to May 10, 2019. The Veteran is requested to provide release forms for relevant medical records and undergo VA evaluations.
- Denied
The Veteran's cervical spine disability is not rated higher than 20 percent, and his bilateral leg stress fractures do not warrant separate compensable ratings. The Board also found that the Veteran did not meet criteria for TDIU prior to March 1, 2012.
- Denied
The Board found that the veteran's service-connected disabilities, including PTSD and cervical/lumbar spine conditions, did not prevent him from securing or following substantially gainful employment prior to September 26, 2003. Therefore, an earlier effective date for TDIU is denied.
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