Class Actions
The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) uses its expertise in veterans law to change the lives of veterans and their families.
Through class action lawsuits, NVLSP brings claims on behalf of a group of individuals who have been wrongfully denied the benefits they have earned through their service to our country.
In a number of carefully selected matters, NVLSP works with clients and co-counsel to design and prosecute class action challenges and other complex litigation from the ground up, on a wide array of veterans issues, including:
Read a Success Story
Exposure to Toxic Herbicides in Vietnam
Nehmer v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California) – We represent a nationwide class of Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides and those veterans’ survivors. Thus far, this landmark case has resulted in the delivery of over $5.6 billion in VA compensation benefits to veterans and their survivors. The case originated with VA regulations mandating denial of benefits claims by Vietnam veterans who had diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange. In 1989, a federal court found the regulation unlawful, and under a 1991 consent decree, class members receive retroactive. The Nehmer consent decree requires VA, whenever it recognizes that the emerging scientific evidence shows that a positive relationship exists between Agent Orange exposure and a new disease, to (a) identify all claims based on the newly recognized disease that were previously denied and then (b) pay disability and death benefits to these claimants, retroactive to the initial date of claim.
NVLSP has continued to represent the class as the VA has recognized additional diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure, including three recognized in 2010 and another three recognized in 2021. In 2020, the federal court also ruled in favor of thousands of so-called Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and their survivors, holding that the Nehmer consent decree applies to them.
- Vietnam veterans and their survivors who believe that VA has not assigned them the correct effective date for the award of benefits for their Agent Orange-related disease can contact NVLSP’s Nehmer team at the team’s toll-free hotline number – 855-333-0677 or email AgentOrange@nvlsp.org
Family Caregiver Program
Beaudette v. McDonough (U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims): On April 19, 2021, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims held that the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act requires that the Department of Veterans Affairs permit claimants to appeal decisions of the Program for Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board). The court also ordered that VA provide notice to members of the class of their right to appeal Caregiver Program benefits decisions to the Board. As a result, starting on November 17, 2021, the VA began sending notice to hundreds of thousands of severely disabled veterans and their caregivers, and has provided new dispositions in thousands of appeals.
Improper Denials of Medical Retirement
Torres v. Del Toro (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) – NVLSP challenged a Navy policy in effect between September 12, 2016 and June 11, 2018, which unlawfully prevented the Physical Evaluation Board from considering all of a service member’s disabilities. In September 2022, the federal district court ordered the Navy and Marine Corps to provide new medical retirement hearings to approximately 3,700 veterans who were affected by the unlawful policy. See NVLSP’s answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ)s for more information.
Emergency Medical Care Reimbursements
Wolfe v. Wilkie and Kimmel v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) In October 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that VA’s 2018 reimbursement regulation violates the Emergency Care Fairness Act of 2010 (ECFA) that requires VA to reimburse veterans for the emergency medical expenses they incur at non-VA facilities that are not covered by the veteran’s private insurance. Under the court’s order in the case, called Kimmel v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the VA must reimburse veterans for coinsurance costs associated with emergency medical care. This was the latest litigation in NVLSP’s long commitment to advocating on behalf of veterans when the VA declined to reimburse them for emergency medical care.
- If you need advice on your outstanding request to VA for reimbursement for emergency medical care at a non-VA facility, please click here to see if NVLSP may be able to assist you.