The Board remands the issues of entitlement to higher initial ratings for right and left knee strain with degenerative arthritis prior to May 18, 2017, due to a lack of substantial compliance with previous remand instructions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinion failed to substantially comply with the Board's October 2024 remand directives, necessitating an additional remand for further development and readjudication.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee strain with degenerative arthritis, left knee strain with degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 8, 2025
- Citation
- 25008904
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 25008904.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and an earlier effective date for service connection are being remanded due to inadequate examinations. The TDIU claim is also being remanded as the AOJ did not assist in its development.
- Denied
The Board found no clear and unmistakable error in the January 6, 2016 rating decision denying service connection for left knee osteoarthritis. The Veteran's claim was subsequently granted with effective date of July 13, 2022.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the failure to consider additional evidence submitted after the initial rating decisions.,Service connection claims for a left knee disability, lumbosacral spine disability, and lower extremity neuropathies require further development.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for right and left knee disabilities, secondary to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral flat feet.
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