Citation Nr: A21020188
Decision Date: 12/17/21	Archive Date: 12/17/21

DOCKET NO. 191024-41569
DATE: December 17, 2021

THE ISSUES

1. Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 70 percent for service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

2. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU).

REMANDED

Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 70 percent for service-connected PTSD is remanded.

Entitlement to a TDIU is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran's served on active duty from January 2003 to August 2003.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2019 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran timely appealed the May 2019 decision, filing VA Form 10182, requesting Evidence Submission Review.

Evidence was added to the claims file during a period of time when new evidence was not allowed.  As the Board is remanding the claims for further development, this additional evidence will be considered by the RO in the adjudication of those claims.

1. Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 70 percent for service-connected PTSD is remanded.

2. Entitlement to a TDIU is remanded.

The Board notes that there appears to be a pertinent document partially missing from the claims folder. To wit, the Veteran's mother submitted a letter in January 2018 in which she provided observations on the Veteran's mental health symptoms and their effect on his work and life. However, that document, described by the Veteran's attorney as a letter "signed by the Veteran's mother" in the facsimile cover sheet, ends mid-page in the middle of a sentence and does not contain a signature from the Veteran's mother. It is unclear if the relevant document was improperly scanned into the Veteran's claim file, or if it was ever transmitted in its entirety to VA.

Under the AMA Evidence Submission docket, remand is not permitted, except for certain pre-decisional errors. 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.303, 20.802. As the record on which the RO issued its May 2019 rating decision appears to be incomplete, this constitutes a pre-decisional duty to assist error and this matter is remanded for the below corrective development. 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.303, 20.802.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain and associate with the claims file a complete copy of the January 2018 letter from the Veteran's mother.

(Signature continued on next page.)

 

 

Michael A. Pappas

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	R. E. Geary, 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.