The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and restoration of a disability rating, as well as his claim for TDIU have been referred back to the AOJ due to incomplete development. The AOJ is required to consider all newly acquired evidence since the February 2016 SOC including VA treatment records added in March 2019, and readjudicate the claims.
The deciding factor: The Board's decision requires that the AOJ review the record, including all newly acquired evidence since the February 2016 SOC, and readjudicate the claims for increased ratings, restoration of a disability rating, and TDIU. This includes providing the Veteran with the formal TDIU application form (VA Form 21-8940).
- Claimed conditions
- arthralgia of the left ankle, peripheral neuropathy of the left ankle with residual loss in function of ankle/toes with reflex sympathetic dystrophy and contracture deformity in toes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2020
- Citation
- 20073519
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 631 · Granted: 21% (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 20073519.
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 veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development of her claims, including obtaining more recent medical records and scheduling a VA examination to assess the current severity of her service-connected ankle disorders.
- Remanded (sent back)
The veteran's appeal is remanded for further development, including obtaining SSA records and scheduling VA examinations to address the nature of her back disability.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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