Citation Nr: A20009366 Decision Date: 05/27/20 Archive Date: 05/27/20 DOCKET NO. 190815-26539 DATE: May 27, 2020 ORDER New and relevant evidence having been submitted, readjudication of the claim of service connection for back disability is warranted. New and relevant evidence having been submitted, readjudication of the claim of service connection for left wrist disability is warranted. REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for back disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for left wrist disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for right thumb disability is remanded. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The new evidence received since a November 2009 denial is relevant to the claim of service connection for back disability. 2. The new evidence received since a March 2007 denial is relevant to the claim of service connection for left wrist disability. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for readjudicating the claim of service connection for back disability have been met. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.156 (d), 3.2501(a)(1). 2. The criteria for readjudicating the claim of service connection for left wrist disability have been met. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.156 (d), 3.2501(a)(1). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran had active duty military service from September 1961 to November 1963. These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from an August 2019 rating decision, in which the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) continued previous denials of service connection for back disability and left wrist disability and denied service connection for right thumb disability. The Veteran timely appealed that determination to the Board by filing a VA Form 10182 later in August 2019, wherein he selected the Board hearing docket. A hearing was held before a Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in February 2020 and a transcript of the hearing has been associated with the Veteran’s claims file. Accordingly, the Board will review the evidence received by VA as of the August 2019 rating decision, and any additional evidence received during the February 2020 hearing and during the subsequent 90-day evidentiary window from the date of the February 2020 hearing (February 18, 2020). 38 C.F.R. § 20.302. Readjudication of the claims of service connection for back disability and left wrist disability VA will readjudicate a claim if new and relevant evidenced is presented or secured. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(d). “Relevant evidence” is evidence that tends to prove or disprove a matter in issue. 38 C.F.R. § 3.2501(a)(1). The Veteran’s claim of service connection for back disability was previously considered and denied in a final rating decision issued in November 2009. The Veteran’s claim of service connection for left wrist disability was previously considered by the Board and was denied in a final Board decision issued in March 2007. The Veteran seeks to have these claims readjudicated. Hence, the questions in this case are whether new evidence was received after the prior final March 2007 and November 2009 denials of the Veteran’s claims of service connection for back disability and left wrist disability in the legacy system, and if so, whether that new evidence is relevant to his claims. The evidence considered during the prior final adjudications of the Veteran’s claims included his statements regarding an injury in service in which he fell from the back of a moving vehicle while helping to deliver meals on base, minimal service treatment records showing no indications of disability at the time of service separation, and private and government medical treatment records dating back to 1975 showing multiple injuries from various sources, but also referencing the Veteran’s reports of an injury in service. The evidence received by VA since the prior final adjudications of the Veteran’s claims includes his testimony at the February 2020 Board hearing regarding his injury in service falling from the back of a moving vehicle, his reports that he was hospitalized at the Lemoore Naval Air Station hospital for at least week, and his testimony that in the fall which injured his back he also sustained injuries to his left wrist and right thumb. He also testified that he first sought treatment through VA in approximately 1969 or 1970, but that he has been unable to obtain copies of those records. The Veteran’s representative asserted that the Veteran’s service treatment records are incomplete because they do not include records of his hospitalization. He also suggested during the February 2020 hearing that he has experienced some back, left wrist, and right thumb problems in the years since service. This evidence was not already of record and may prove or disprove the elements of the claims of service connection for back disability and left wrist disability. Hence, readjudication of the claims is warranted. REASONS FOR REMAND Entitlement to service connection for back disability, left wrist disability, and right thumb disability are remanded. Under the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA), the Board must remand a claim to correct an error by the AOJ to satisfy its duty to assist the Veteran under 38 U.S.C. § 5103A, if the error occurred prior to the AOJ decision on appeal. 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(f)(2)(A); 38 C.F.R. § 20.802(a). The Board may also remand a claim to correct any other AOJ error “in satisfying a regulatory or statutory duty, if correction of the error would have a reasonable possibility of aiding in substantiating” the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 20.802(a). In this case, the Board finds that there is reason to believe that there are additional service treatment records relevant to all of the Veteran’s claims which must be sought. The Veteran has repeatedly reported that following his injury in service, he was treated at the hospital at Lemoore Naval Air Station and remained in the hospital for up to one week. Those records are not included in the service treatment records in his claims file, and it does not appear that the AOJ has specifically contacted Lemoore Naval Air Station to attempt to obtain any outstanding service treatment records. Failure to expend all reasonable efforts to obtain any outstanding federal records is an error, the correction of which would have a reasonable possibility of helping the Veteran to substantiate his claims. The records should be requested from the appropriate records custodian on remand. Also, evidence associated with the claims file, including a January 1976 statement from the Veteran (VA Form 21-4138), indicates that he reported that he was awarded Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits for his claimed back disability, among other disabilities. A remand is required to allow VA to request these outstanding and potentially relevant records. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the Veteran’s federal disability and/or supplemental security income records from the SSA. Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file. 2. Contact the National Personnel Records Center, Lemoore Naval Air Station, and any other appropriate entity and request any outstanding service treatment records, to specifically include records of hospitalization of the Veteran at Lemoore Naval Air Station. Such requests may be separated into discreet time periods in order to satisfy the limitation of such searches until the entire period of the Veteran’s service has been included. Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file. Brian J. Elwood Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Cheryl E. Handy 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.