## Facts

- Paul W. Hyatt served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1958 to 1962.
- During a 1959 ceremony, a fellow Marine negligently struck Hyatt in the back with a bayonet, leaving a wound and scar; the servicemember was disciplined by court-martial.
- Hyatt later sustained another back injury in the 1970s and underwent back surgeries in 1974 and 1975.
- In 1983, Hyatt sought VA service connection for a lower back condition, reported the bayonet incident, identified the responsible servicemember and the existence of court-martial proceedings, and submitted some post-service surgical records.
- VA denied the 1983 claim for lack of a nexus between the in-service injury and current disability; the denial became final when Hyatt did not appeal.
- VA later reopened the claim based on additional evidence but again denied it; the Board affirmed, emphasizing the absence of medical evidence describing the bayonet wound and finding the duty to assist satisfied.
- Neither VA nor the Board attempted to obtain the identified court-martial records that could describe the in-service injury.

## Issues

1. Whether VA violated its statutory duty to assist by failing to make reasonable efforts to obtain identified court-martial records in government custody that were potentially relevant to the nature and extent of the in-service injury.
2. Whether the Board erred by relying on the absence of documentation about the in-service wound while concluding that VA had satisfied the duty to assist without seeking those records.

## Decision

- The Veterans Court vacated the Board’s denial of service connection and remanded.
- The court held that VA did not satisfy the duty to assist because it made no attempt to obtain the identified court-martial records.
- The court ordered further development to obtain the court-martial records, or to document reasonable efforts and any unavailability, followed by readjudication.

## Legal Principles

- Under 38 U.S.C. § 5103A, VA must make reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in obtaining evidence necessary to substantiate a claim.
- When a claimant adequately identifies potentially relevant records in the custody of a federal department or agency, VA must attempt to obtain them or document that further efforts would be futile.
- VA may not deny a claim based on missing documentation of an in-service event while failing to pursue an identified, plausible source of that documentation held by the government.

## Conclusion

The court required VA to attempt to obtain identified court-martial records that could bear on the nature and extent of a claimed in-service injury, vacating the Board’s denial and remanding because VA’s failure to seek those potentially relevant federal records violated the duty to assist.


Hyatt v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 390 (2007)