Citation Nr: 21000107
Decision Date: 01/04/21	Archive Date: 01/04/21

DOCKET NO. 14-13 795
DATE: January 4, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral foot disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The appellant is a Veteran who served on active duty from August 1983 to September 1987.  This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In July 2019 a Board hearing was held before the undersigned.  A transcript of the hearing is associated with the Veteran’s claims file.  

Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral foot disability is remanded.

Pursuant to the Board’s January 2020 remand directives, a VA opinion regarding his feet was obtained in October 2020.  A Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) was issued in October 2020.  

Notably, in December 2020 the Veteran underwent an in-person examination which included an opinion addressing the etiology of his bilateral foot disability.  However, the RO has not issued a SSOC and the Veteran did not waive RO consideration of the new evidence procured by VA.  See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304(c).

Regarding relevant evidence, 38 C.F.R. § 19.37 states that a SSOC will be furnished to an appellant and his representative when additional pertinent evidence is received after a previous SSOC has been issued, unless the additional evidence received duplicates evidence previously of record which was discussed in the prior SSOC.  In this case, pertinent information was newly obtained by the RO and was not addressed in the last SSOC.  Because the additional evidence in question in this case is neither duplicative of other evidence nor irrelevant, and because a SSOC pertaining to that evidence was not issued, this evidence must be remanded back to the AOJ.  See Disabled American Veterans v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 327 F.3d 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2003); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Furnish to the Veteran and his representative an appropriate SSOC that includes a review of all evidence received since the October 2020 SSOC, to include the December 2020 VA examination report and any other new evidence submitted by the Veteran while the case is at the AOJ. 

 

 

H.M. WALKER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	E. Skiouris, 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.