The Veteran's left ankle disability has been rated at 10 percent since August 2018. The Board has granted a 20 percent rating, the maximum under DC 5271, for marked limitation of motion in the left ankle.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows marked limitation of motion in the left ankle, which is more than what is required for a 10 percent rating but less than what would be required for ankylosis (which requires fixed immobility).
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle traumatic arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- October 4, 2024
- Citation
- 24031487
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 258 · Granted: 30% (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 24031487.
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 Veteran's need for regular aid and attendance is not due to his service-connected disabilities, but rather to nonservice-connected disabilities. The Board denies the claim for SMC based on the need for regular aid and attendance.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for major depressive disorder, with anxious distress, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, left ankle traumatic arthritis, right ankle traumatic arthritis, left knee chondromalacia, right knee chondromalacia, and left foot pes cavus, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor.
- Granted
The veteran's claim for service connection of left hip strain as secondary to left ankle traumatic arthritis was granted.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals as they were not processed under the modernized review system (AMA). The Veteran's claims for increased ratings of his left and right ankle conditions are still pending in the legacy appeal system.
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