Turner: 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(b), "constructively" received VA medical records
/Turner v. Shulkin, 29 Vet.App. 207 (Feb. 8, 2018)
HELD: Under38 C.F.R. §3.156(b), if new and material evidence (which could include VA treatment records) is “received” during the one-year appeal period following a regional office (RO) decision, the RO is required to consider that evidence as having been submitted with the original claim and proceed accordingly.” VA treatment records can be “constructively” received, which requires VA adjudicators to “have sufficient knowledge, within the one-year appeal period following an RO decision, that the records exist, although they need not know the contents of such records.” Until the RO reconsiders the claim with the newly received (or constructively received) evidence, “the denied claim remains pending.”
