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The Veterans Administration has been forced by a U.S. Court of Appeals decision to take a giant step forward to help veterans with their health care. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims voted unanimously to strike down a VA regulation that the VA had been using since 2009 to deny reimbursement requests from veterans who had to get emergency medical care outside the VA system. The court rebuked the VA’s reimbursement regulation and said it had unlawfully refused to fix the regulation. The VA had been specifically mandated to fix this regulation by Congress in 2009. The VA, by federal statute, is required to pay these claims. [more]
Released 4/25/16 | Tags: Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
A class action lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenges the fees charged by PACER, the federal courts’ online court records system, as excessive. The lawsuit seeks to obtain relief on behalf of “all individuals and entities who have paid fees for the use of PACER within the past six years, excluding class counsel and agencies of the federal government.” The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance for Justice, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the National Consumer Law Center, claims that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is violating the E-Government Act of 2002, which mandates that the fees to access court records online cannot exceed the amount needed to maintain the system itself. [more]
Released 4/22/16 | Tags: Class Actions
The federally run online court document access system known as PACER now finds itself listed on a federal docket. Its overseer, the US government, is a defendant in a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the service of overcharging the public. The suit, brought by three nonprofits on Thursday, claims millions of dollars generated from a recent 25-percent increase in page fees are being illegally spent by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AO). The cost for access is 10 cents per page and up to $3 a document. Judicial opinions are free. This isn't likely to break the bank for some, but to others it adds up and can preclude access to public records. The National Consumer Law Center, the Alliance for Justice, and the National Veterans Legal Services Program also claim in the lawsuit that these fees are illegal because the government is charging more than necessary to keep the PACER system afloat (as is required by Congress) [more]
Released 4/22/16 | Tags: Class Actions
Lawmakers have advanced legislation that would reimburse veterans with combat-related injuries potentially thousands of dollars in lost severance pay. The Senate Finance Committee approved the 2016 Taxpayer Protection Act on Wednesday, which included an amendment requiring the Defense Department to pay back all veterans affected by the accounting error, going back as far as 1991. Veterans who had to medically retire from the military because of combat-related injuries during the last two decades have lost out on thousands of dollars in severance pay because the Defense Department improperly taxed those payments. [more]
Released 4/22/16 | Tags: Congressional Legislation
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner’s (D-VA) legislation to ensure that veterans who suffer service-ending combat-related injuries are not improperly taxed on the severance payment they receive from the Department of Defense (DoD) has passed the Senate Finance Committee [more]
Released 4/21/16 | Tags: Congressional Legislation
The federal judiciary is overcharging users for access to the public online database of court records known as PACER, a group of nonprofits alleged in a class action filed on Thursday in Washington. The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system, known as PACER, generally charges users 10 cents per page for court records, with a maximum charge of $3 per record. The plaintiffs—National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and Alliance for Justice—claim the fees more than cover the cost of maintaining of the system, and that the extra money is used for unrelated expenses in violation of the federal E-Government Act of 2002. “This noncompliance with the E-Government Act has inhibited public understanding of the courts and thwarted equal access to justice,” the nonprofits argued, in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. [more]
Released 4/21/16 | Tags: Class Actions
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts illegally charges excessive fees for Pacer, the federal electronic court records system, a lawsuit (PDF) filed Thursday asserts. The case alleges that the 10-cents-per-page download fee, capping out at $3, is much higher that the actual cost of providing public records, and may prevent access to important court records. It was brought by the Alliance for Justice, the National Veterans Legal Services and the National Consumer Law Center.
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Released 4/21/16 | Tags: Class Actions
The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims recently held that the Department of Veterans Affairs had been using an invalid regulation since 2009 to deny reimbursement to veterans for emergency medical costs incurred outside of the V.A. health care system. “This is a major win for veterans, and their families,” said Bart Stichman, joint executive director of National Veterans Legal Services Program and an attorney in the case. “This practice has violated federal law since at least 2009. The court’s ruling means the V.A. will have to amend the unlawful regulations it should have amended in 2009 and do right by these veterans.” He added that the ruling was “not just a win for one veteran,” but that “veterans who have pending claims for reimbursement will benefit. Plus, veterans whose reimbursement requests were turned down years ago may now be able to get paid by claiming that the previous denial contained ‘clear and unmistakable error.’ “ [more]
Released 4/20/16 | Tags: Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
The percent of disability claims approved by the Veterans Affairs Department for Persian Gulf War-related illnesses has declined steadily in the past five years, resulting in record lows, according to a new report. [more]
Released 4/19/16 | Tags: Agent Orange
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has ruled unanimously that the Department of Veterans Affairs ignored "plain language" of a 2010 statute meant to protect VA-enrolled veterans from out-of-pocket costs when forced to use non-VA emergency medical care. [more]
Released 4/18/16 | Tags: Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims