Citation Nr: 18145196 Decision Date: 10/26/18 Archive Date: 10/26/18 DOCKET NO. 16-20 002 DATE: October 26, 2018 ORDER New and material evidence having not been received, reopening the claim for service connection for a right knee disability is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. In an unappealed November 2009 rating decision, entitlement to service connection for a right knee condition was. 2. The evidence received since the November 2009 rating decision is cumulative or redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the prior denial and does not relate to an unestablished fact necessary to establish the claim of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability. CONCLUSION OF LAW New and material evidence has not been received and the claim of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is not reopened. 38 U.S.C. § 5108 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active naval service from November 2001 to November 2007. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Seattle, Washington. The Board notes that the Veteran perfected an appeal of the issue of entitlement to service connection for a left knee disability. However, in an August 2016 Decision Review Officer (DRO) decision, the Veteran was granted entitlement to service connection for left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). There is no indication from the record that the Veteran has disagreed with the rating or effective date assigned in that decision. As such, that decision constitutes a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal and the Board has limited its consideration accordingly. New and material evidence In a November 2009 rating decision, the Veteran was denied entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability based on a finding that a right knee disability was not related to the Veteran’s active service, and was not present to a compensable degree within a year of his separation from service. The Veteran did not appeal that decision. The pertinent evidence that has been added to the record since the November 2009 rating decision includes the following: additional treatment records, which show that the Veteran has continued to receive treatment for a right knee disability, to include showing a diagnosis of PFPS; and, additional lay statements from the Veteran in which he again reported that he injured his knee during boot camp, and that his current right knee disability was the result of extensive walking on a steel decked ship or, in the alternative, was the result of heavy lifting of cargo on non-skid flight decks. The Board finds that the additional evidence added to the record is not new and material. In this regard, the evidence is cumulative or redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the prior final denial, and the evidence does not raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability. The Board acknowledges that the diagnosis of right knee PFPS was not of record at the time of the November 2009 denial. However, as discussed above, at that time the Veteran was not denied entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability based on a finding that he did not have a current diagnosis of a disability. Rather, at that time, it was acknowledged that the Veteran had a current disability, but that disability was not shown to be etiologically related to the Veteran’s service, or to have manifested within the applicable presumptive period. Further, the Veteran’s lay statements regarding the circumstances of his service and how they contributed to his current knee disability were of record at the time of the November 2009 denial. As the Veteran has not submitted new evidence indicating that his right knee disability is related to service, the additional evidence added to the record is not new and material. Therefore, reopening of the claim of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is not warranted. Kristin Haddock Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Christina Quant, Law Clerk