Citation Nr: 20021540
Decision Date: 03/26/20	Archive Date: 03/26/20

DOCKET NO. 12-33 198
DATE: March 26, 2020

ORDER

The appeal for service connection for a left knee disorder, having been rendered moot by the grant of service connection, is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

On September 21, 2019, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) issue a rating decision that granted service connection for degenerative arthritis of the left knee with an initial rating of 10 percent effective March 13, 2010.   

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The appeal for service connection for a left knee disorder has been rendered legally moot by the full grant of service connection for left knee arthritis by the September 21, 2019 rating decision; therefore, there is no longer an issue of fact or law to be determined by the Board.  38 U.S.C. §§ 7104, 7105.  

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran, who is the appellant, had active duty service from December 2006 to March 2010.  

The instant case is on appeal from a RO rating decision that initially denied service connection for a left knee disorder.  The case has been before the Board previously in January 2018 and the Board remanded the issue of service connection for a left knee disorder for a VA examination and for additional treatment records.  The VA examination occurred and the records have been obtained, so the Board finds that there has been substantial compliance with the remand directives.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998).

Service Connection for a Left Knee Disorder

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The only issue that was remanded by the Board in January 2018 was service connection for a left knee disorder.  The file reflects that, since the January 2018 remand, a rating decision in September 2019 granted service connection for degenerative arthritis of the left knee, and assigned an initial rating of 10 percent, effective March 13, 2010.  As the issue before the Board was service connection for a left knee disorder, that issue has been rendered moot by the September 2019 rating decision grant of service connection for left knee disability. 38 U.S.C. § 7104 (providing that the Board only decides actual questions of law or fact in an actual case); see also 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (providing that the Board may dismiss any appeal where no specific error of fact or law is alleged).  Because the only issue on appeal was service connection for the left knee, and because service connection for the left knee disability has been granted at the RO level, which reflects a full grant of the benefit previously sought on appeal, there is no remaining issue for the Board to decide, and the appeal has been rendered moot; therefore, the appeal must be dismissed.

 

 

J. PARKER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	A. Smith, Associate Counsel

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.