RAYMOND L. SMITH, APPELLANT, V. JESSE BROWN, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, APPELLEE.

5 Vet App 3355 Vet. App. 335; 1993 US Vet App LEXIS 2051993 U.S. Vet. App. LEXIS 205

No. 91-771

July 6, 1993, Decided

UNITED STATES COURT OF VETERANS APPEALS

Before FARLEY, MANKIN, and STEINBERG, Judges.

Counsel                 Rick Surratt was on the briefs for appellant.

                                Robert E. Coy, Acting General Counsel, Norman G. Cooper, Acting Assistant General Counsel, Andrew J. Mullen, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, and Jacqueline E. Monroe were on the brief for appellee.

Opinion

Editorial Information: Prior History

 

On Appeal from the Board of Veterans' Appeals

Opinion by:                           FARLEY

{5 Vet. App. 336} FARLEY, Judge: Appellant Raymond L. Smith appeals from a January 3, 1991, decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA or Board) which denied his claims of entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability as secondary to his service-connected left knee disability, and to a rating in excess of 10% for postoperative residuals of a left medial meniscectomy (excision of a crescent shaped disk of fibrocartilage attached to the superior articular surface of the tibia, DORLAND'S ILLUSTRATED MEDICAL DICTIONARY, 1005 (27th ed. 1988)) with degenerative joint disease (left knee condition). The Board stated that a preponderance of the evidence did not demonstrate that a causal relationship existed between appellant's service-connected left knee condition and his right knee disorder, and that no more than a slight impairment of the left knee had been shown, thus not warranting an increase in his 10% disability rating. Because the BVA failed to support the determinations made in the January 3, 1991, decision with sufficient reasons or bases, the Court will remand both issues to the Board for readjudication.

{5 Vet. App. 337} I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND