The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for right shoulder and left ankle disabilities due to lack of substantial compliance with its previous instructions.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was not substantial compliance with the remand directives, specifically regarding the Veteran’s lay statements at his October 2018 hearing and the fact that a disability is not mentioned or diagnosed in treatment records cannot serve as the sole basis for a negative finding.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Shoulder Cuff Tendonitis, Left Ankle Instability with Peroneal Tendonitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 4, 2021
- Citation
- 21006559
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 21006559.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but no higher, and dismissed the veteran's appeals for increased ratings of other service-connected conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for right shoulder and left ankle disabilities due to insufficient information regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's right shoulder, left elbow, and right elbow disabilities are not related to his active service. The lumbosacral strain (low back condition) is remanded for further review.
- 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.
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