By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Two groups representing about 60,000 military veterans filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to speed up its handling of disability claims or provide interim financial relief for applicants.

The lawsuit demands that the VA make an initial decision within 90 days on all claims for disability benefits and resolve any appeals within 180 days. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, further requests that the court grant interim benefits to veterans if the VA is unable to resolve their claims under the deadlines.

"This is a very focused, quick effort," said Robert E. Cattanach, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney and lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "Other suits have been broadly based, a litany of everything that is wrong with the VA," he said in an interview. "The key difference with this case is it is something the judge can manage: to provide a needed remedy to these guys because they are in dire straits."

The VA estimated that in 2007 it took an average of six months to reach an initial decision on a benefits claim, according to the complaint, and processing appeals takes years.

"This is a national embarrassment," said Cattanach, a Navy veteran with a son who has served two Army tours in Iraq. "Every day that goes by that this isn't fixed, people's lives are being changed," he said, recalling his effort to obtain benefits for a veteran who committed suicide before his case was resolved.

The complaint noted that about 3.4 million of the 25 million U.S. veterans receive benefits, and that the number eligible for VA health care has grown since 2001 by about 800,000.

Chase McCombs, a 26-year-old Navy veteran from Phoenix, said he suffered several injuries and eyesight deterioration during a stint as a Navy mechanic that lasted more than three years, including a deployment on an aircraft carrier during the early phase of the Iraq war.

After his discharge, private doctors gave him a diagnosis of optical nerve deterioration as a result of exposure to a harmful substance or head injury, and he is legally blind, he said in an interview. But he said his application for benefits related to his blindness has been denied twice since he first filed in December, and he is still awaiting a response to his appeal.

"If I didn't have the support of my friends to help me pay my bills, I would be homeless," said McCombs, who is married and has two children. His wife earns about $1,300 a month, and he receives $117 a month from the VA for his injured ankles.

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare filed the lawsuit.

On "Veterans Day, more than 600,000 veterans will wake up still waiting for a decision on their benefits," said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of America, at a news conference at the National Press Club yesterday.

The lawsuit calls for the VA to produce within a month a detailed plan for reducing its processing time on claims and appeals to 90 and 180 days, respectively. Failing that, it wants the VA to provide interim payments -- equivalent to what would be received by a veteran with a 30 percent disability rating -- for all veterans who have outstanding claims.