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Veterans Disability Lawsuits – Why You Need a Lawyer Who is Accredited to Handle Veterans Disability Lawsuits

Attorneys who profit from disabled veterans to earn money frequently use their benefits. You should hire an attorney who is certified to handle VA claims.

A Connecticut veteran who suffered from schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health issues related to a fatal aircraft carrier crash has won an important victory. But it comes at cost.

Class Action Settlement

The Department of Veterans Affairs has consistently discriminated against Black veterans by denying disability compensation claims at a higher rate than white veterans, as per a lawsuit filed on Monday. Conley Monk is a 74 year old Marine Corps veteran from the Vietnam War who filed the lawsuit. Monk claims that VA has denied his disability claims at a much higher rate than those of white veterans over the past three decades, according to documents obtained by Monk and the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

Monk who is an psychiatric nurse who retired, says that discrimination from the VA has caused him and other black veterans to suffer in ways that have impacted their health, homes or work and education. Monk wants the VA to compensate him for benefits it has deprived him of and to alter its policies on race discharge status, discharge status and denial rates.

Last year, Monk and the Veterans Legal Services Clinic obtained 20 years of VA disability compensation claim information through Freedom of Information Act requests which they filed on behalf of the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress and the Black Veterans Project. The data revealed that Black veterans were statistically less likely to be granted an application for disability than white veterans between 2001 to 2020. The average denial rate for veterans disability attorney of color was 6.3 percent higher than white veterans.

Discrimination in PTSD

The Veterans Affairs Department systematically denies disability benefits to Black veterans, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday. The lawsuit is brought by an ex- Marine Corps vet who was denied housing as well as education benefits, among others despite having been diagnosed with PTSD. The suit cites evidence to show that VA officials have historically denied claims made by Black veterans.

Conley Monk volunteered to serve in the Marines during the Vietnam War, driving a shot-scarred transport vehicle and helping move equipment and veterans disability attorney troops to combat zones. Conley Monk was later involved two battles, which he attributed to his PTSD. In 1971, he was awarded an unjust discharge that was not honorable. This “bad paper” prevented him from receiving loans for homes or tuition aid, as well as other benefits.

He filed a lawsuit against the military to revers the discharge and was awarded full benefits in 2015 and in 2020. However, he says the VA still is owed money for his previous denials of disability compensation. He also suffered severe emotional damage from having to relive some of his most traumatic memories with each application and re-application to receive benefits, the suit claims.

The lawsuit seeks financial damages and seeks to have the court decide to require the VA to look into systems-wide PTSD bias. It is the latest move by groups like the ACLU and Service Women’s Action Network to make it mandatory for the VA to address long-running discrimination against sexual assault survivors.

Alimony Discrimination

The veterans who have served our country in uniform or those who accompany them deserve truthful answers regarding the disability benefits of veterans and its impact on money issues in divorce. One of the biggest myths is that veterans can have their VA compensation seized to pay child support or alimony orders in state courts. This isn’t the case. Congress has carefully designed Title 38 of the U.S. Code to protect veterans’ payment from claims by creditors and family members in the case of child support and alimony.

Conley Monk, who was a volunteer for his country, served two years in Vietnam driving bulletproof transport vehicles, as well as moving troops and equipment out of combat zones. He was awarded several medals for his work, but he was later issued a less-than-honorable discharge after he was involved in two fights that were not diagnosed as being caused by PTSD. The fight to get the VA to grant his claim for disability compensation was a long, winding road.

He was denied access at an rate that was much higher than white people. This discrimination against blacks was widespread and pervasive, according the lawsuit brought on behalf of him by the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress and the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School. It claims that the VA was aware of and did not combat decades of discrimination against Black veterans. It seeks to redress Monk and other veterans who are like Monk.

Appeals

The VA’s Board of Veterans Appeals reviews claims for benefits when a claimant is not satisfied with a decision that the agency has made. If you are considering appealing the decision, it is important to appeal in the earliest time possible. An experienced lawyer in appeals to veterans’ disability cases will help you ensure that your appeal is compliant with all the requirements and that it gets a fair hearing.

A competent lawyer will review the evidence to support your claim, and if necessary, submit additional and more convincing evidence. The lawyer will also understand the difficulties of dealing with the VA, and this can increase the level of empathy for your circumstance. This could be a great benefit in your appeals process.

One of the most common reasons that a veteran’s claim for disability can be denied is because the agency hasn’t properly defined their condition. A qualified lawyer can ensure that your condition is properly classified and rated correctly, allowing you the benefits you deserve. An experienced attorney will be able to work with medical experts to provide additional evidence of your medical condition. For instance, a medical expert might be able prove that the pain you are experiencing is related to your service-connected injury and is causing you to be disabled. They might assist you get the medical records that are needed to support your claim.