{"id":29597,"date":"2019-06-17T20:01:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/17\/court-allows-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-va-for-the-first-time\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:26:31","slug":"court-allows-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-va-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2019\/06\/17\/court-allows-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-va-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Court allows a class-action lawsuit against VA for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=5f497950-fbd3-4cb6-937b-2e0814860b75\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/video-poster-5f497950-fbd3-4cb6-937b-2e0814860b75.png\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie sits down with Military Times to talk about coming changes to the department.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A federal court for the first time will allow<a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/08\/30\/what-happens-now-that-veterans-can-file-class-action-suits-against-va\/\" target=_blank> a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> to move ahead, a move that legal experts said opens the doors for a host of similar cases against the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision, which could affect thousands of veterans, came late last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Last August, the same court for the first time ruled that class-action lawsuits would be allowed against VA in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/08\/24\/court-ruling-allows-class-action-lawsuits-against-va\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cappropriate cases,\u201d<\/a> but no such claims met court standards until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This case \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/efiling.uscourts.cavc.gov\/cmecf\/servlet\/TransportRoom?servlet=ShowDoc&#038;dls_id=01205907937&#038;caseId=97334&#038;dktType=dktPublic\" target=_blank>Godsey v. Wilkie<\/a> \u2014 sought relief for veterans facing lengthy waits for the department to certify their disability benefits appeals claims. The case was originally filed in 2017 on behalf of four veterans facing lengthy delays, but lawyers argued it should be broadened to include an entire class of individuals waiting for their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/08\/24\/court-ruling-allows-class-action-lawsuits-against-va\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GWMV5BMFUREMJJ5HDWXMVKB7CM.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Veterans can now file class-action lawsuits against VA<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The move could allow groups of veterans to sue the department and force additional action on a host of benefits and programming issues.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials in oral arguments last year testified that more than 2,500 veterans had been waiting for certification for more than two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a 2-1 decision, the court modified the class to include only veterans facing a wait of more than 18 months for VA to advance their appeals, saying those delays \u201cdeprive (veterans) of their constitutional right to due process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plaintiffs hailed the decision as a win for the veterans frustrated by the appeals process and for advocates trying to force changes within the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(The court\u2019s) order certifying a class action for the first time in its 30-year history is a landmark moment, and will help ensure that our veterans and their families have more access to the justice they deserve,\u201d said Bart Stichman, executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, which has helped oversee the case. \u201cIt has been a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legal advocates for years have pushed the courts to overturn a long-held ban on class-action lawsuits against the department, arguing it effectively allows VA officials to push off systemic corrections by addressing only complaints from individual veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In private lawsuits, individuals must prove they suffered a specific injury or hardship in order to win judgment. But in class-action lawsuits, plaintiffs can show illegal or harmful activity against a larger group, bringing with it different standards for correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court thus far has not allowed class-action lawsuits involving direct payouts to veterans. But Stichman said the move will force VA to address rules and regulations to respond to a collection a veterans complaints at once, instead of reacting to individual problems separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/05\/09\/veterans-ask-court-to-reinstate-lawsuits-over-burn-pits-in-iraq-afghanistan\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1741.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Veterans ask court to reinstate lawsuits over burn pits in Iraq, Afghanistan<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Veterans and their families asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to reinstate dozens of lawsuits alleging that a government contractor caused health problems by using burn pits during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the court in its decision said on these veterans\u2019 complaints, VA has not acted quickly enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are not content to wait for the (VA) Secretary to remedy these unreasonable delays on his own,\u201d the judges wrote. \u201cThe Secretary has had many years to act and initiate pre-certification review of class members&#8217; cases, and he has failed to do so \u2026 Simply put: the time has come for judicial intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling requires VA to conduct a precertification review of all cases for all class members within 120 days for their initial filing, and requires the department to provide a status update on that work back to the court before the end of the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nvlsp.org\/\" target=_blank>Covington &amp; Burling LLP and NVLSP officials<\/a> will serve as counsel for the class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Previous attempts to force the department to respond to a large group of veterans complaints instead of individual cases failed to meet the court&#8217;s standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":95334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[104,106,31,15,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3294],"class_list":["post-29597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquisition-update","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"WFTYDWGYQBAMZIPFCGDE5YVN3I","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/17\/court-allows-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-va-for-the-first-time\/","remove_feature_photo":true,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Court allows a class-action lawsuit against VA for the first time - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Previous attempts to force the department to respond to a large group of veterans complaints instead of individual cases failed to meet the court&#039;s standards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court allows a class-action lawsuit against VA for the first time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Previous attempts to force the department to respond to a large group of veterans complaints instead of individual cases failed to meet the 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