Tag: focused

Single Judge Application; English, 30 Vet.App. at 352-53; the Board must explain what it understands the terms “slight” and “moderate” in DC 5257 to mean so that appellant will understand why he was evaluated as he was, and the Court can review the Board’s decision; the Board focused on “objective evidence” in the VA medical opinions to support its conclusion that appellant’s instability was only “slight.”35 We can’t tell whether the Board faithfully applied English v. Wilkie or merely recited its holding concerning the lack of a requirement of objective evidence. On remand, the Board must ensure that it does not inappropriately downgrade evidence of instability merely because it is subjective. We stress again that it is inappropriate to categorically favor objective evidence of instability over subjective evidence of that condition. English, 30 Vet.App. at 352-53;
Single Judge Application; failure define term or degree; Mr. Thornton cites Johnson v. Wilkie, 30 Vet.App. 245, 255 (2018), arguing that the Board must disclose the standard under which it is operating. Appellant’s Br. at 26. But Johnson focused on a situation where the Board failed to define a term of degree (specifically, “very frequent”) that could be applied inconsistently across similar cases without a clear definition. 30 Vet.App. at 255;