The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has issued an opinion in the class action case National Veterans Legal Services Program, et. al., v United States (docket available here). In her opinion, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said that the federal judiciary misused millions of dollars in PACER fees to fund programs that are not allowed. [more]
Released 4/5/18 | Tags:
In what's being hailed as a win for the public, one federal court judge ruled (over the weekend) that the federal court system has been misusing the profits generated by the PACER and the CM/ECF system. The Saturday ruling in the National Veterans Legal Services Program v. U.S.A. case found that several programs and purchases funded by the profits generated by the PACER systems, which climbs into the millions annually, were improper. [more]
Released 4/5/18 | Tags: Class Actions
The Federal Circuit’s decision in Saunders v. Wilkie overturned the 1999 precedential decision issued by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that said VA had no authority to award benefits for pain alone, if the pain was untethered to a medical diagnosis explaining its cause. NVLSP partnered with pro-bono counsel, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, on the case. They won the case on behalf of Gulf war veteran Melba Saunders, who served in the Army from November 1987 until October 1994. [more]
Released 4/4/18 | Tags: Class Actions
In the opinion recently filed on March 31, 2018 of National Veterans Legal Services Program, et al., v. United States of America, Judge Huvelle partially agreed that some of the fees that were being collected were indeed illegal, and she ordered that nearly $200 million may be returned to those who paid for PACER between 2010 and 2016. [more]
Released 4/3/18 | Tags: Class Actions
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday revived a U.S. Army veteran’s claim for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits stemming from knee pain, ruling that pain alone can be considered a disability. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims misinterpreted a disability benefit statute when it ruled that Melba Saunders’ knee pain could not, in the absence of a specific diagnosis or other identified disease or injury, be considered the basis for benefits, a three-judge panel ruled in a precedential decision. [more]
Released 4/3/18 | Tags: Class Actions
Siding with an Orrick pro bono team’s arguments on behalf of a Gulf War veteran, a federal appeals court today established vital precedent for veterans seeking benefits for disabilities arising from their military service when the disability consists solely of pain. In Saunders v. Wilkie, the Federal Circuit unanimously rejected certain limits on disability benefits imposed for nearly two decades by the Department of Veterans Affairs, providing critical support to veterans who can now recover just compensation for pain-related disabilities. An Orrick team led by Mel Bostwick and Eric Shumsky, partners in the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, along with co-counsel at the National Veterans Legal Services Program, secured the win for Gulf War veteran Melba Saunders. [more]
Released 4/3/18 | Tags: Class Actions
The federal judiciary violated federal law when it used Pacer fees for courtroom technology and other projects that don’t provide the public with access to information stored in the courts’ electronic docketing system, a federal judge has ruled. [more]
Released 4/2/18 | Tags: Class Actions
Thirty years after federal courts began offering online access to litigation records through the PACER system, a federal judge ruled Saturday that fees paid by the public for such access cannot fund other courtroom technologies. The National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and Alliance for Justice brought the underlying challenge in Washington as a federal class action, accusing the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts of charging PACER users more than what was necessary to operate the system, in violation of the E-Government Act of 2002. [more]
Released 4/2/18 | Tags: Class Actions
The federal judiciary misused millions of dollars in fees derived from an electronic public web portal for court documents to fund certain programs that federal law did not allow, a Washington judge rule. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said the United States is liable for certain improper expenses that violated the E-Government Act of 2002. The ruling came in a class action that alleged the judiciary’s administrative office set fees too high for the online portal Public Access to Court Electronic Records, commonly known as PACER. The suit, filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, the National Consumer Law Center and Alliance for Justice, seeks monetary relief for allegedly excessive fees charged between 2010 and 2016. [more]
Released 3/31/18 | Tags: Class Actions
Since its beginning, Vietnam Veterans of America has been at the forefront of seeking answers about the effects of Agent Orange on veterans and their families and getting justice through treatment and compensation for illnesses caused by the military’s use of this defoliant. The very first witness at the first congressional hearing on Agent Orange in 1979 was then VVA Vice President John Terzano. [more]
Released 3/31/18 | Tags: Agent Orange