Source: https://veteranclaims.net/2010/06/15/veterans-court-application-of-golz-v-shinseki-f-3d-record-obtainment/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:37:26+00:00

Document:
The Golz Fed.Cir. decision was published in January 2010, here are some of the first applications of that decision on VA’s duty to obtain records, as explained and cited by these Veteran Court Judges. As these are but long excerpts, one needs to read the complete decision to understand what is being said.
Relevant records . . . are those records that relate to the injury for which the claimant is seeking benefits and have a reasonable possibility of helping to substantiate the veteran’s claim.” Id. at 1321 (emphasis added).
states that he is receiving Social Security benefits awarded in 1993 and that “VA never sought to obtain these records.” App. Br. at 7.
those records were included in the record before the Agency. Sec’y Br. at 6, R. at 32-80. Further, the Secretary argues that the appellant failed to adequately identify what records VA had failed to obtain from SSA.
VA’s duty to assist includes making “reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in obtaining evidence necessaryto substantiate the claimant’s claim for a benefit.” 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(a)(1), (b); see Loving v. Nicholson, 19 Vet.App. 96, 102-03 (2005) (discussing requirement that the records be adequately identified). VA is not required to assist a claimant in obtaining identified records “if no reasonable possibility exists that such assistance would aid in substantiating the claim.” 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(a)(2); see Golz v. Shinseki, 590 F.3d 1317, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2010).
The duty to assist “is not boundless in its scope” and “not all medical records or all SSA disability records must be sought –only those that are relevant to the veteran’s claim.” Golz, 590 F.3d at 1320-21 (emphasis added).
(2002); Clarkson v. Brown, 4 Vet.App. 565, 567-68 (1993); Murincsak v.
Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 363, 366, 370 (1992).

References: § 5103
 v. 
 § 5103
 v. 
 v. 
 v.