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JUDGE OKs CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST VA --

Says there is no adequate means to appeal rejection

of post-traumatic stress disorder claims.

For background on this lawsuit, with backlinks, click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfSEP07/nf092907-1.htm

The official web site for this lawsuit is here...
http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/index.html

We have two stories on the Court's latest action.

First story here... http://www.mercuryne
ws.com/crime/ci_7942515?nclick_check=1

Story below:

NOTE:  There is a correction to this story.  This correction was added on 01-18-08 and approved by the reporter who wrote the story.

CORRECTION:   We saw your story on Judge Samuel Conti's decision on the Motion to Dismiss in the PTSD case, which contains an inaccuracy that we would ask you to correct on your web site. The case was not "filed by DRA" notwithstanding the press release from DRA you may have received. Although DRA appears as co-counsel, Morrison & Foerster is the lead counsel for the plaintiffs and briefed and argued the motion to dismiss.

Thank for your attention to this matter.

Gordon P. Erspamer
Morrison & Foerster LLP
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4094

-------------------------

Class-action lawsuit against VA approved

Judge says there is no adequate means to appeal rejection of post-traumatic stress disorder claims

By Josh Richman
STAFF WRITER

A federal judge in San Francisco has cleared the way for a national class-action lawsuit challenging how Department of Veterans Affairs treats Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The federal system for weighing individual veterans' claims "does not provide an adequate alternative remedy for Plaintiffs' claims for several reasons," U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti wrote in a 42-page order rejecting the government's motion to dismiss three of the lawsuit's four claims.

The lawsuit, which was filed in July by Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates on behalf of Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, claims the VA has violated federal laws and veterans' civil rights by taking too long to provide mental-health care and disability benefits and, in some cases, denying them completely for PTSD.

"VA first mistreated hundreds of thousands of veterans, then took the position that the vets could not bring their grievances to court to be heard," Disability Rights Advocates' managing attorney Melissa Kasnitz said in a statement Thursday. "Today, VA's shameful effort to keep these deserving veterans from their day in court was rejected."

VA spokespeople could not be reached for comment late Thursday, but spokeswoman Jo Schuda in July had said that the agency is committed to "meeting the special needs" of the nation's latest war veterans.

"Through outreach efforts, the VA ensures that returning Global War on Terror service members have access to the widely recognized quality health care they have earned," she said.

Disability Rights Advocates argues that while most disabled veterans cannot receive medical treatment without an approved disability claim, VA now has a backlog of more than 600,000 claim applications, with some dating back to the Vietnam era.

Even after claims have been approved, veterans face serious problems in receiving care, the lawsuit says.

Meanwhile, 15 percent to 50 percent of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD, the lawsuit says.

Staff writer Dogen Hannah contributed to this story. Reach Josh Richman at 510-208-6428 or jrichman@bayareanewsgroup.com.

-------------------------

Second story here... http://www.sfgate.com
/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/11/BAKDUDEB5.DTL

Story below:

-------------------------

Judge in S.F. allows suit charging VA denies some vets health care

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Veterans' advocates can proceed with a lawsuit claiming that the federal government's health care system for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan illegally denies care and benefits, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, a conservative jurist and a World War II veteran, rejected Bush administration arguments that civil courts have no authority over the Department of Veterans Affairs' medical decisions or how it handles grievances and claims.

If the plaintiffs can prove their allegations, Conti said, they would show that "thousands of veterans, if not more, are suffering grievous injuries as the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care."

He said federal courts are competent to decide whether those injuries were caused by flaws in the health care system and the VA's grievance procedures.

Conti did not rule on the adequacy of the treatment system, which will be addressed in future proceedings. But he decided one disputed issue, finding that veterans are legally entitled to two years of health care after leaving the service. The government had argued that it was required to provide only as much care as the VA's budget allowed in a given year.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Melissa Kasnitz of Disability Rights Advocates, said the judge had rejected the VA's "shameful effort to keep these deserving veterans from their day in court."

The next step is a hearing on the plaintiffs' request for an injunction that would require the federal agency to provide immediate mental health treatment for veterans who suffer from stress disorders and are at risk of suicide, said Sidney Wolinsky, another Disability Rights Advocates lawyer. That hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22.

The suit claims that the federal government's failure to provide timely treatment is contributing to an epidemic of suicides among returning soldiers.

The suit was filed in July by two organizations, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, as a proposed class action on behalf of 320,000 to 800,000 veterans or their survivors.

The groups said the VA arbitrarily denies care and benefits to wounded veterans, forces them to wait months for treatment and years for benefits, and gives them little recourse when it rejects their medical claims. The department has a backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims, the suit said.

A Pentagon study group reported in June that the system was understaffed, prompting the VA to announce staffing increases in July. The study group also found that 84,000 veterans, more than one-third of those who sought care from the department from 2002 through 2006, had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress or another mental disorder.

In seeking dismissal of the suit, the Justice Department argued that Congress had barred federal courts from hearing complaints about the VA system when it established a special Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims in 1988 to review grievances over treatment and benefits. But Conti said the special court can examine only individual cases and has no power to consider "systematic, constitutional challenges." He said those belong in regular courts.

Conti also said the VA system, originally intended as an informal procedure to help veterans resolve their claims, has morphed into an adversarial process in which claimants have to comply with formal legal rules, often without a lawyer.

"It is within the court's power to insist that veterans be granted a level of due process that is commensurate with the adjudication procedures with which they are confronted," Conti said.

Efforts to reach the Justice Department were unsuccessful.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

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