Aguilar v. Derwinski’s Empirical Analysis
1991
Citation profile
How this case has been cited
Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently November 2010 · most notably Grottveit v. Brown (1993), Livesay v. Principi (2001)
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 38 U.S.C. § 5107 · 38 U.S.C. § 7266
Relies on Gilbert v. Derwinski · Murphy v. Derwinski
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Before applying for benefits, a veteran must submit evidence of service and the character of the veteran’s discharge. If the veteran does not submit evidence, VA will request verification of service from the service department. 38 C.F.R. § 3.203 (c) (1991)_ A veteran ... who fails to submit appropriate evidence never attains the status of claimant. Consequently, the Secretary is not obliged to determine whether the claim is well-grounded, nor is he obliged to assist such a person in developing the facts pertinent to the claim. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 . See Murphy v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 78, 81 (1990) (quoting Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 49, 55 (1990)). Although VA has an obligation to assist a claimant in developing the facts pertinent to a well-grounded claim, to give a claimant the benefit of the doubt, and to render a decision which grants every benefit which can be supported in law while protecting the interests of the government, 38 C.F.R. § 3.103 (a) (1991), this is not true for those who are not entitled to be called “claimants.” .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Sarmiento v. Brown
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.