Citation Nr: 20043347 Decision Date: 06/30/20 Archive Date: 06/30/20 DOCKET NO. 18-04 836 DATE: June 30, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for right knee chondromalacia disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT Affording the Veteran, the benefit of the doubt, his right knee chondromalacia is etiologically related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a right knee disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 1974 to September 1976 and from February 1982 to February 2002. In addition, the Veteran had reserve service from 1976 to 1982. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). By way of procedural background, in a December 2018 decision, the Board reopened the Veteran’s previously denied claims for entitlement to service connection for hernia, a low back disability, a right ankle disability, a left ankle disability, a right knee disability, and for a left knee disability. The Board then denied service connection for a right ankle disability and for a right knee disability, and remanded the issues of entitlement to service connection for hernia, a low back disability, a left ankle disability, a left knee disability, a cervical spine disability, a left shoulder disability and for a right shoulder disability to the AOJ for further development. The Veteran appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (the Court). On an August 2019 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR), the Court issued an August 2019 vacating the Board’s December 2018 decision that denied service connection for a right ankle disability and a right knee disability, and remanded those matters to the Board for additional development and readjudication. While pending Board readjudication, in December 2018, the Veteran filed a RAMP Opt-In Election seeking Higher Level Review in the AMA system of the remanded issues of entitlement to service connection for hernia, a low back disability, a left ankle disability, a left knee disability, a cervical spine disability, a left shoulder disability and for a right shoulder disability. Therefore, these matters are no longer before the Board in the legacy system. A January 2020 Board decision then denied service connection for a right ankle disability, and remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability for the purpose of affording the Veteran a VA examination and obtaining a medical opinion with respect to that examination. The VA examination was conducted in February 2020 with a corresponding February 2020 medical opinion. This development complies with the January 2020 Board remand. The Board further concludes that all remand instructions issued by the Board have been substantially complied with. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998); see also Dyment v. West, 13 Vet. App. 141, 146-47 (1999). Entitlement to Service Connection for a Right Knee Disability Pursuant to applicable laws and regulations, service connection may be established for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active duty service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Generally, to establish service connection, the evidence must show (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury (or in-service aggravation). Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be granted for any injury or disease diagnosed after discharge when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease or injury was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). The Veteran seeks service connection for a right knee disability. Per a February 2020 VA examiner, the Veteran has a current diagnosis of right knee chondromalacia. This VA examiner attributed the Veteran’s current right knee chondromalacia, to an injury in-service that was productive of altered gait and limping. The examiner explained that altered gait and limping led to overuse of the right knee and his current chondromalacia. The Veteran has competently and credibly reported right knee pain following said in-service injury. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007). Moreover, he has credibly explained that he attempted to report his symptomatology of pain on service separation but was essentially denied the opportunity. In affording the Veteran, the benefit of the doubt, his right knee disability manifested in-service. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is granted. J. L. BURROUGHS Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board J. 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.