January 10, 2008, Washington, DC – The U.S. District Court in San Francisco today handed an enormous victory to veterans who sued the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over lengthy delays for medical care and disability benefits.  The Judge’s ruling means our class action lawsuit against VA will move forward, with the first court hearing scheduled for next month.

“We won this round against VA.  Veterans will have our day in court.  The VA must now release documents under discovery about their deliberate attempts to deny and delay medical care and disability benefits for all veterans, especially our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans,” said Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), the lead plaintiff organization that filed suit against VA.

On July 23, 2007, VCS and Veterans United for Truth (VUFT) filed a class action lawsuit against VA in order to force VA to provide prompt and high-quality medical care and disability benefits to veterans, especially those with mental health conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “Our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are committing suicide while waiting for VA to answer their pleas for medical care.    VA must make sure all our veterans receive prompt and high-quality medical care and disability benefits.  The long waits at VA must end,” added Sullivan.

Shortly after VCS and VUFT filed suit, VA filed a motion to dismiss the case.  On December 14, 2007, the U.S. District Court heard oral arguments in the case.  On January 10, 2008, the Court ruled against VA and ordered the lawsuit to go to trial.  The Court also ruled VA must provide free medical care for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for two years. The Court ruling means discovery in the class action lawsuit will begin immediately.  The first court date is set for February 22, 2008.

"The February hearing will focus on the VA's failure to provide mandated health care to our nation's veterans, which has lead to an epidemic of suicides by our returning warriors, who have been forced to carry on the battle alone ,” Sullivan said.

As of October 2007, the Department of Defense had deployed a cumulative total of 1.6 million service members to the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones.  Of those, 750,000 are now veterans eligible for VA healthcare and disability benefits.  According to VA, more than 264,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have already been treated at VA hospitals.  However, of the 52,000 diagnosed by VA with PTSD, only 19,000 are receiving disability compensation for PTSD.  According to VA statistics, veterans wait more than six months on average for disability benefit decisions from VA.

VCS is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, with 12,000 members.  VCS focuses on issues related to veterans' healthcare, veterans' benefits, national security, and civil liberties.  VCS and VUFT are represented by the law firm Morrison & Foerster, located in San Francisco, California, and by the advocacy group, Disability Rights Advocates, located in Berkeley, California.  “This victory for our veterans was possible because of the generous free legal assistance of these two prestigious organizations,” Sullivan said. 

For information about the lawsuit, please go to our web site at: http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org