The Veteran's claims for service connection for an unspecified depressive disorder and a TBI disability rating are being remanded due to the addition of new VA treatment records.
The deciding factor: New VA treatment records have been added to the case file, necessitating further review by the AOJ.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder, traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20081758
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 882 · Granted: 17% (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 20081758.
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 anxiety and depressive disorders were rated at a 70 percent disability rating effective May 6, 2015.,Effective May 6, 2015, the Veteran was granted an earlier effective date for DEA benefits.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's current unspecified depressive disorder is related to his service-connected disabilities, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, lumbar spine disability, right hand disability, left hip disability, TBI, and left knee disability have all been denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of service connection for any of these conditions.,Specifically, the VA examination in December 2019 determined that the Veteran's hearing loss and tinnitus were not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected unspecified depressive disorder with insomnia disorder is rated at 30 percent, and the Board has determined that this rating is not sufficient to reflect his disability picture.
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