The Board remands the claims for an initial rating higher than 10 percent for left knee degenerative joint disease with laxity and right knee sprain, as well as an earlier effective date for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that a pre-decisional duty to assist error occurred in the retrospective medical opinions regarding functional loss during flare-ups and with active motion, passive motion, weight-bearing, and nonweight-bearing over the course of the period on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee degenerative joint disease with laxity, right knee sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 28, 2025
- Citation
- A25028825
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 Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions due to an error in verifying the Veteran's active service and obtaining his complete service personnel records and treatment records.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date for service connection for right knee meniscal tear and anterior cruciate ligament tear with painful motion, right knee sprain, and right knee scars.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, along with other disabilities, have prevented her from obtaining and maintaining substantial and gainful employment, warranting an award of extraschedular TDIU and special monthly compensation at the housebound rate effective February 17, 2022.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a back disorder, right knee sprain, left knee sprain, arthritis, and athlete's foot as the evidence did not support that these conditions were incurred in or related to active duty.
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