The Board remands the Veteran's claim for an initial disability rating in excess of 10 percent for right ankle disability due to duty-to-assist errors, including inadequate VA examination and missing treatment records.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to ensure that the AOJ fulfills its duty to assist the Veteran in developing the record and correcting pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors.
- Claimed conditions
- right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 8, 2025
- Citation
- A25058455
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for sleep apnea, left shoulder bicipital tendon tear, hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, and left carpal tunnel syndrome. The claims for increased ratings for lumbar spondylosis with facet arthropathy and lumbosacral strain, right hip strain with osteoarthritis, other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, left and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, right shoulder rotator cuff tear, left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome (to include iliotibial band syndrome), and chronic right wrist sprain were denied. The Board also granted an effective date of July 7, 2023 for the award of increased ratings.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, dismissing or denying all appeals.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral plantar fasciitis, left foot bone spur, left and right upper extremity radiculopathy, and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain as the evidence did not support a finding of an in-service incurrence or a causal relationship between the claimed conditions and the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection for right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, finding that the August 13, 2024 intent to file a claim was not received within one year of the October 2022 rating decision.
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