The Board has dismissed the Veteran's legacy appeals regarding increased ratings for his service-connected bilateral knee and scar issues due to a mistake in classification of the appeal as a legacy appeal instead of an AMA review system.
The deciding factor: The Veteran opted into the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) review system, which allowed him to opt out of the legacy appeal stream. The AOJ incorrectly issued SSOCs for the legacy appeals, leading to their dismissal.
- Claimed conditions
- right total knee replacement, left total knee replacement, right knee scar, left knee scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 18, 2026
- Citation
- 26002202
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 26002202.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
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 appeal as it found that the benefits originally sought have been granted in full, and thus there is no longer a specific error of fact or law to address.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for a compensable disability rating for his service-connected right knee scar was withdrawn by the Veteran and his authorized representative.,The Board has remanded the issues of entitlement to a compensable disability rating for migraine headaches, service connection for a lower back condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee condition, service connection for a right hip condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee condition, and service connection for a right lower extremity nerve condition as secondary to the Veteran's claimed lower back condition.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal for a higher initial rating in excess of 10 percent for left knee scar, and the appeal is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right and left knee disabilities, as well as his right knee scar. The RO must attempt to obtain all available private treatment records from the Tennessee Orthopedic Clinic.
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