The appeal regarding the timeliness of the January 2020 VA Form 9 is dismissed. The claims for increased evaluations are remanded.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the January 2020 VA Form 9 was untimely, making the issue moot and dismissing it. However, as the appeal regarding the timeliness of the form is dismissed, the claims for increased evaluations must be remanded to consider them on their merits.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve, thoracolumbar sprain with muscle spasms with degenerative arthritis and spondylosis, cervical sprain with degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 24, 2024
- Citation
- A24068686
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,156 · Granted: 29% (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 A24068686.
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 left and right lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve are granted a 20 percent rating, but no higher.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand two issues: the claim for service connection for arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and the issue of a higher rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve. The reasons are that there were duty-to-assist errors prior to the March 2025 rating decision on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations for left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the femoral and sciatic nerves are being remanded due to a duty to assist error.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions, including hip disabilities and radiculopathies, have been granted with effective dates of November 12, 2020.,Claims for earlier effective dates were denied for prostate cancer, reduction of the penis with erectile dysfunction (as secondary to prostate cancer), asthma, bilateral hearing loss, bilateral knees, hypertension, stable angina, and CFS.
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