Citation Nr: 21026702
Decision Date: 05/03/21	Archive Date: 05/03/21

DOCKET NO. 17-11 949
DATE: May 3, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to a total disability rating for compensation purposes based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service from February 1986 to February 2006. The issue of entitlement to a TDIU was raised as part and parcel to separate claims for increased ratings under Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447 (2009). The Veteran filed a claim for a TDIU in June 2019. The issue of entitlement to a TDIU was denied in a September 2020 Regional Office (RO) rating decision. The matter was remanded by the Board for additional development in November 2020. Since that remand, the associated increased rating claims were moved into the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) review system, but the issue of TDIU remained in the Legacy appeals system. The Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned in November 2019; a transcript is of record.  

Entitlement to a total disability rating for compensation purposes based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.

As noted above, the issue of entitlement to a TDIU was denied in a September 2020 rating decision. Nonetheless, the November 2020 Board decision remanded the issue for adjudication by the RO. The Board notes that since the September 2020 denial of TDIU, the Veteran has been service connected for additional disabilities. A November 2020 rating decision granted service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral and sciatic nerves. The Veteran was also service connected for a scar of the right knee. The RO has not readjudicated the issue of TDIU pursuant to the directives of the November 2020 remand. Readjudication remains necessary as the RO has not considered all of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities in their previous adjudication. As such, remand is necessary for adjudication. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998).

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Readjudicate the issue of entitlement to a TDIU in consideration of all of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities.  Then issue an SSOC with respect to the TDIU matter.

 

 

Thomas H. O'Shay

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Baker, 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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.