The Board vacated its November 30, 2023 decision and remanded several claims for further development.
The deciding factor: The RO granted a 100 percent rating for the Veteran's psychiatric/TBI disorder from March 29, 2012, rendering moot the increased rating issues on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee degenerative joint disease (DJD), status post patellar tendon rupture and patellar fracture, right ankle DJD, status post fracture, lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD) with intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS), radiculopathy of the right lower extremity (sciatic)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2025
- Citation
- 25003659
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · Granted: 28% (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 25003659.
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 Board granted a 40 percent rating for the low back disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy from July 6, 2022. Service connection was denied for a cervical spine disorder.
- Granted
The veteran's claim for service connection for radiculopathy of both lower extremities, secondary to a service-connected lumbar strain with degenerative disc disease, was granted. The effective date is July 19, 2022.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's appeals for earlier effective dates because the VA Form 10182 Decision Review Request: Board Appeal (NOD) was not timely or valid, and thus did not comply with claims-processing rules.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for radiculopathy of the right lower extremity (sciatic) was granted with an effective date of May 14, 2019. The Board found that entitlement to this benefit arose prior to the filing of the claim and thus concluded that a May 14, 2019, effective date is appropriate.
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