News Room
NVLSP Press Releases
Seven Veterans Sue Department of Veterans Affairs for Unreasonable Delay
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is violating the law by failing to send veterans requested medical records needed to obtain benefits, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court today. Some have been waiting as long as 25 months.
Seven veterans who served in the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marines are suing the VA, claiming that the agency has ignored written requests for their own records. Without the documents, the veterans cannot apply for military disability benefits and cannot seek a change in disability rating.
The veterans – from Florida, Kentucky, Colorado, Virginia and Wyoming – are represented by Public Citizen and the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). The groups are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare that the VA has unreasonably delayed responding to the veterans’ requests for their records and order the VA to produce the records within 20 days. [more]
Released 4/20/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
NVLSP ISSUES TIPS TO HELP VETERANS SAFEGUARD DISABILITY BENEFITS, IN LIGHT OF VA’S NEW ADVERSARIAL PROCESS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 8, 2015 WASHINGTON – A new rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs that became effective on March 24, 2015 ends much of the informal claims … [more]
Released 4/8/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
American Legion, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Vietnam Veterans of America ask court to declare VA rule eliminating informal claims unlawful
America’s leading veteran’s service organizations have filed a lawsuit against Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert A. McDonald seeking to stop the implementation of a new VA rule eliminating most informal VA claims and limiting the types of claims VA will adjudicate. The American Legion, AMVETS, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and the Vietnam Veterans of America joined forces to file the lawsuit together. The lawsuit seeks to have VA’s new rule eliminating the most important part of the informal VA claims process, and limiting the types of inferred claims VA adjudicates, declared unlawful by the court. The case was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 20th and entered in the court docket yesterday.
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Released 4/7/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
Testimony for House Veterans Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs (DAMA)
Bart Stichman, co-founder and joint executive director of NVLSP, offers testimony on behalf of NVLSP on the veterans appeals process and offers five recommendations for Congress to improve the system. [more]
Released 1/22/15 | Tags: Testimony, Veteran's Benefits
Nonprofit organization pays tribute to the late Gordon Erspamer and Congressman Lane Evans
The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), a nonprofit veterans service organization held its annual benefit reception this week, themed “Honoring Service and Sacrifice." “I am honored to be here tonight and recognize the important work of NVLSP. We show who we are, as a nation, in how we care for those who return injured from battle,” said Jake Tapper, chief Washington correspondent and host of “The Lead” at CNN. [more]
Released 11/20/14 | Tags: Supporters
Federal court lawsuit exposes Army’s illegal practices in reviewing applications for corrections of errors and injustices in military records
Morrison & Foerster and two veterans organizations, the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), have filed a class action suit on behalf of thousands of former soldiers whose service files contain errors or injustices, and whose applications were handled improperly by the U.S. Army’s Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR). [more]
Released 11/14/14 | Tags: Class Actions
Equal Justice Works Fellow to Build Program Assisting Military Veterans with Disability Benefits
The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) is proud to announce the formal launch of a new program to address the needs of thousands of veterans who are survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) and need assistance in obtaining VA disability benefits. [more]
Released 9/25/14 | Tags: Military Sexual Trauma, Veteran's Benefits
The center will assist veterans and family members affected by VA’s waiting-list scandal
The center will assist veterans and family members affected by VA’s waiting-list scandal The American Legion announced it is sending a team of experts to Phoenix next week to set up a Veterans Crisis Command Center to help veterans and family members affected by the health-care scandal at … [more]
Released 6/3/14 | Tags:
VA Secretary Given More than 100 Days to Intervene, VSOs Turn to the Courts for Justice
A group of US military veterans who served in Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ) and were exposed to toxic Agent Orange chemicals are being wrongfully denied disability benefits, says a new lawsuit, McKinney v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. [more]
Released 6/3/14 | Tags: Agent Orange, Veteran's Benefits
Legendary Veteran Advocate, Gordon P. Erspamer's Living Memory Fund
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of legendary veteran advocate and long-time NVLSP ally, Gordon P. Erspamer, being recently diagnosed with inoperable Glioblastoma, one of the most deadly and aggressive forms of brain cancer. Undoubtedly one of the most dedicated and accomplished legal … [more]
Released 2/21/14 | Tags: