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Old October 11, 2008, 09:49 AM   #1
Bartholomew Roberts
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Join Date: June 12, 2000
Location: Texas and Oklahoma area
Posts: 8,462
ABA Article: Veterans: A New Suspect Class in the Legal System?

Recently (see the ABA thread), I learned of an interesting Cold War-era Supreme Court decision entitled Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 (1953).

One of the outcomes of this decision is that veterans who dispute any dealings with the Veteran's Administration are basically subject to a "legal" system that would make a kanagaroo court blush with shame. For example, veterans:

1) Cannot pay a lawyer any sum whatsoever for legal assistance on claims filed with the agency of original jurisdiction until after the case is lost and a final administrative determination has been made (a process that can take years)

2) Must face VA adjudicators who act as both trier of opposition and fact (essentially, it would be like having the judge and the prosecutor be the same person in a criminal trial)

3) Cannot subpoena any VA employee to testify in order to support a challenge to diagnosis

4) Have no redress for denials of medical care or treatment

In addition, veterans may not use class action procedures or obtain injunctive relief against the VA and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims lacks the ability to enforce any decisions at the Regional Office level.

To see so many basic legal protections stripped from the group that has done so much to protect the system for all of us just sticks in my craw in a tremendous way. It was shocking to me that these abuses were alleged by the ABA. On top of all of it, the ABA also alleges that the VA has engaged in blatantly illegal activity knowing that only a veteran who can last all the way (both monetarily and medically) to the Federal court of appeals has any chance of actually reversing their decision.

Now part of me is skeptical because 1) it is the ABA and 2) the people who are pushing to change this legislation wish to bring a bunch of challenges under the Federal Tort Claims Act on PTSD cases - these cases will undoubtedly enrich the lawyers from our tax coffers and give the families of those involved the cold comfort of 60-40% of the award for their lost loved one.

At the same time though, I've got to say the ABA makes a convincing case that veterans deserve a better judicial system at the VA than the one we have given them. I was hoping maybe some of the learned people here could help better inform me on this issue - especially from the perspective of any who have had to deal with the VA recently.
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