The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings for right and left ankle deltoid ligament sprains is being remanded due to a pre-decisional error regarding the examiner's assessment of flareups.
The deciding factor: The May 2022 VA examination did not reconcile the Veteran's reported severe flareups with its finding of no significant limitation in functional ability during flareups, constituting a pre-decisional error.
- Claimed conditions
- right ankle deltoid ligament sprain, left ankle deltoid ligament sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 8, 2024
- Citation
- A24073363
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (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 A24073363.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for traumatic brain injury with migraine headaches and denied service connection for cervical strain, left knee strain, and left ankle deltoid ligament sprain. The remaining claims have been granted or are pending further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for left ankle deltoid ligament sprain, left knee strain, and left meniscal tear due to inadequate VA examinations that did not discount the beneficial effects of pain medications. The AOJ is instructed to obtain additional medical records and schedule the Veteran for a new VA examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's left and right ankle disabilities have been granted a 20 percent disability rating each, effective January 13, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased disability ratings are remanded due to inadequate VA examinations and the need to consider additional evidence.
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