Iraq Veteran Sues Home Depot

Local Veteran Suing Home Depot After Being Fired For Missing Work To Deal With Injuries
WCHS News 8
Christopher A. Williams, Jarrod Clay
October 14, 2015

Scalf was in the Army for five years and spent 15 months in Iraq starting in 2006. While there, Scalf was in several gun fights and was hit with a roadside bomb 12 times. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, has PTSD, and now gets headaches that are sometimes to severe he can’t open his eyes.

TEAYS VALLEY, W.Va. – A U.S. Army veteran is suing Home Depot after he said the store fired him for missing work to deal with injuries he got while deployed in Iraq.

A quick search on Home Depot’s website can yield a page where veterans can go to apply for a job.

That’s exactly what Christopher Scalf did after his time in the Army was over, but Scalf said the company didn’t hold up to their end of the deal.

Scalf, a veteran of the U.S. Army, worked at Home Depot in Teays Valley for about three years until he was fired by the company. He and his attorney said Home Depot fired him for taking time off work to deal with injuries he got while in Iraq.

“While he is at would he would get headaches, and instead of providing some reasonable accommodations, Home Depot simply terminated his employment,” lawyer Mark Plants said.
read more here

Iraq Veterans Sue KBR For Burn Pit Toxic Exposures

Five Casper veterans sue company over toxic burn pits in Iraq
Casper Star Tribune
Lillian Schrock
October 9, 2015

Five Casper military veterans filed a federal lawsuit Friday alleging they were exposed to toxic fumes when a Houston-based corporation improperly burned waste during the war in Iraq.

Ochs Law Firm filed the suit against KBR Inc. in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. The suit is believed to be the first toxic burn pit case filed in Wyoming, according to the Casper-based law office.

The suit states KBR was hired to handle waste disposal for American operations in Iraq.

KBR failed to take necessary safety precautions and incinerated unsorted waste, including chemicals, in burn pits, exposing the soldiers to health-damaging toxins, the suit claims.
read more here

ALSO

Vets Can Finally Sue Contractors for Cancer Caused by War
After the Supreme Court found that KBR could be sued over the burn pits it operated on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, I received a memo from an Air Force bioenvironmental flight commander, Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis, saying that the troops at Air Base Balad were being exposed to “an acute health hazard.”

At that point, no one had reported on the burn pits, which were used by the military and its contractors to dispose of trash at almost every base in Iraq and Afghanistan.

New Mexico

Ailing vets sue, say toxic burn pits cost them their health

KBR, Halliburton Found Not Immune in Burn-Pit Suits
March 6 (Bloomberg) -- KBR Inc. and Halliburton Co. aren’t automatically immune from lawsuits by military service members over illnesses caused by exposure to contractor burn pits, a U.S. appeals court said, reversing a lower court ruling. KBR is only entitled to immunity if it adhered to the terms of its contract with the government, something the district court failed to explore adequately, U.S. Circuit Judge Henry Floyd wrote in sending the case back for further proceedings.

There are a lot more like this one from 2010

Houston National Guard troops file suit over Camp Taji burn pits
Ill wind blows, some in Houston Guard unit believe
Baghdad burn pit operated by KBR said to cause migraines, breathing problems and rashes
By LINDSAY WISE and LISE OLSEN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 1, 2010

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — One night in mid-January, a shift in the wind sent a sudden flurry of white flakes into a detainee internment facility guarded by soldiers from Houston’s 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

The Texas Army National Guard troops weren’t witnessing a rare Baghdad snowfall. The flakes drifting from the pitch-dark sky were ash and bits of charred trash belched from an open-air burn pit about 100 yards from the outer walls of the internment facility.

Operated by Houston-based contractor KBR, the pit consumes 120 tons of garbage a day here at Camp Taji, a U.S. military base north of Baghdad. On calm days, noxious smoke billows upward and dissipates into a smog-like haze. When the wind blows, the acrid-smelling fumes pour into towers and yards where about 800 Texas troops from the 72nd keep watch.

“It hovers over like a blanket,” said Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Ethier, 36, of Montgomery. “After it rains, you’ll get puddles of stuff. It’s like a yellowish, brackish color. It looks metallic. It’s just disgusting.”

Soldiers say a fine layer of soot settles on their uniforms and black goop comes out when they blow their noses. They complain of migraines, breathing problems, coughs, sore throats, irritated eyes and skin rashes.

The Texas Guard troops aren’t the first to report problems from exposure to burn pits at U.S. military bases across Iraq and Afghanistan.

Family of PTSD Veteran Can Sue After Police Shooting

Judge allows lawsuit against Maine officer who killed veteran to go forward
Bangor Daily News
By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Oct. 06, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge has ruled that an excessive force lawsuit over the death of a troubled Army veteran may go forward but only against the officer, not the police chief or the town of Farmington.

The parents of a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who was shot and killed nearly four years ago in front of the Farmington police station filed a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit in 2013 against the town, Police Chief Jack Peck, and Ryan Rosie, the officer who shot and killed Justin Michael Crowley-Smilek on Nov. 19, 2011.

The Maine attorney general’s office in May 2012 found that Rosie was justified in shooting Crowley-Smilek, 26, of Farmington. The report said that Rosie took cover behind a police cruiser after Crowley-Smilek ignored demands that he take his hands out of his pockets. Rosie fired after the veteran took a butcher knife out of his pocket and charged at the officer.

The lawsuit, filed in November 2013 in federal court in Portland by Hunter Tzovarras, the Bangor attorney representing Crowley-Smilek’s parents, claimed that the veteran went to the Farmington police station the day he was killed to ask for help “regarding mental health services.”
read more here

VFW: VA Turned 'Blind Eye' to Insurer Profiteering

VFW: VA Turned 'Blind Eye' to Insurer Profiteering Off Survivors
Military.com
Bryant Jordan
September 30, 2015

The lawsuit was settled in 2014 when the insurer paid out a $40 million settlement, but did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. The VFW continued to demand release of the documents, however, arguing that they would enable families and the public to better understand what the company did in connection with its administering of federally subsidized life insurance programs.

One of the country's largest veterans' organizations says it has uncovered proof that that the Veterans Affairs Department agreed to an insurance policy payout system that gave Prudential Insurance Co. an edge in holding onto survivor's money rather than pay it out in a lump sum.

A 2009 document shows that that VA allowed Prudential to pay benefits in the form of an account that survivors could draw on rather than a single payment, as the law governing Service Group Life Insurance and Veterans Group Life Insurance required.

"The documents speak for themselves, and they show that Prudential initiated this program for the money that could be gained, not to help grieving military families -- and the VA knew all about it," VFW National Commander John A. Biedrzycki Jr. said. "For an insurance company to profit off the dead is sickening, but for our own government to turn a blind eye to profiteering is something entirely else."
read more here


UPDATE
Looks like the service groups are coming out swinging!

The American Legion has renewed its call for Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits Allison Hickey to resign or be fired.

The Legion, which first sought her removal along with other department officials in connection with a wait-times scandal in 2014, said Hickey now should go because of her connection to officials who used coercion to assume the directorships of regional offices in Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minnesota.

IAVA Chief Criticizes Sanders as ‘Apologist’ for Scandal-Riddled VA The head of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, should explain why he didn't early and aggressively investigate the Veterans Affairs Department scandal involving manipulated wait times and the deaths of veterans.

"If you want to be commander-in-chief, let's ask some hard questions of Bernie Sanders on why he didn't do more, why he didn't hold more oversight hearings," Paul Rieckhoff said during a panel discussion on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. "We and others called him out for basically being an apologist for the VA as the scandal erupted around him."

Cpl. Allan "AJ" DeVillena II Death Settlement "Business Decision"

Palm Springs settles Marine shooting lawsuit for $2.6M
The Desert Sun
Brett Kelman
September 1, 2015

Palm Springs has agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of Cpl. Allan "AJ" DeVillena II, a Marine who was shot by a police officer who dove through the window of DeVillena’s moving car in 2012.

This is the third time the city has settled a lawsuit involving police Officer Chad Nordman.

Attorneys negotiated the settlement during an eleventh-hour conference on Monday. If the deal had not been brokered, the lawsuit would have gone to trial next week.

City Attorney Patrick Desmond described the settlement as a "business decision," made by the city's insurance company. Desmond said the city "stands behind" the officers who killed DeVillena, and blamed the Marine for the shooting.

“Given the actions of Mr. DeVillena, it was reasonable for both officers to respond with deadly force to defend themselves,” Desmond said in a prepared statement “This was a tragic event that could have been avoided had Mr. DeVillena not placed the officers’ lives in danger.”
read more here

Iraq Veteran Ex-Employee Sues Home Depot

If you know anything about Home Deport you know about Home Depot Foundation and how much they care about veterans, plus they also committed to hiring 55,000 veterans. They have a long history in the veterans community.

Army veteran sues Home Depot, alleging disability discrimination
West Virginia Record
Carol Ostrow
Aug. 28, 2015

WINFIELD—An Army veteran from Putnam County is suing Home Depot, alleging employment law infringement.

Christopher J. Scalf of Hurricane filed a lawsuit Aug. 20 in Putnam Circuit Court against Home Depot U.S.A. Inc., alleging disability discrimination and breach of contract in 2013.

The suit states Scalf was hired June 14, 2013 by Home Depot for the second time and he noted on his application that he was a disabled veteran, having served in the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Baghdad.

According to the complaint, Scalf sustained multiple injuries including traumatic brain injury during his deployment, was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and consequently suffers from periodic migraines and PTSD episodes. He alleges when he developed a migraine June 16, he was sent home rather than given a reasonable accommodation at work, and was then terminated June 24, on the pretext of his (June 17) absence.
read more here

So how does something like this happen? There has to be more to the story than what was just reported.

Veteran Marine With PTSD Fired From Canadian National Railway

Lawsuit claims Marine fired over PTSD ‘safety concerns’
Fond Du Lac Wisconsin
Nate Beck, Action Reporter Media
August 20, 2015

An ex-marine is suing a Fond du Lac rail company, claiming he was fired over his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to complaint filed Aug. 7 in Eastern District of Wisconsin District Court.

Oshkosh Northwestern Media file photoA Canadian National train crosses the Fox River in Oshkosh. The first train crossed the new CN railroad bridge over the Fox River in August. Oshkosh Northwestern Media file photo The new Canadian National railroad bridge is functional and has opened and closed on Aug. 23. JOE SIENKIEWICZ/Oshkosh Northwestern Media The CN railroad bridge is functional and has opened and closed on August 23, 2013.
(Photo: Oshkosh Northwestern / JOE SIENKIEWICZ/Oshkosh Northwes)

Chris Trombley, now a North Carolina resident, was hired at Wisconsin Central, doing business as Canadian National Railway, at the company’s Fond du Lac rail yard. Trombley claims in his complaint that he was fired due to his PTSD, though his condition never harmed his job performance.

Trombley is seeking a judgment under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects against discrimination on the basis of disability. The complaint seeks a jury trial and damages of more than $75,000, the limit for federal lawsuits.

Trombley told CN when he applied in summer 2014 that he suffered from Post-Trumatic Stress Disorder after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. The suit alleges that Trombley’s PTSD didn’t prevent him from “successfully performing the essential functions” of his job.

Shortly after starting at CN, Trombley told the company he had switched PTSD medication. A drug screen administrator there told him it wouldn’t be an issue. Later that day, a trainer told Trombley he seemed to be working slower than normal, court papers show.

The next day, CN medical services told Trombley he’d been reported for showing symptoms of PTSD. He claimed that was an effect of the new medication, and CN suspended Trombley pending a doctor’s note. A week later, Trombley presented a note clearing him, though CN wouldn’t allow him to return for another week.
read more here

Tampa VA Employee Fire For Not Spying?

Former worker says Bay Pines VA harassed him for not spying
Tampa Bay Online
By Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
Published: August 10, 2015

Keith Hansford says his problems with the Bay Pines VA Police Department began almost as soon as he was promoted to officer in 2010.

Hansford, 52, worked his way up from a housekeeper at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital to a dispatcher. But Hansford said assistant police chief Manuel Morales wanted him to serve as an informant against officers who had sued the department. Hansford said that when he refused, his supervisors began a campaign of harassment against him that has continued even after he resigned in 2012.

The retaliation reached a peak, Hansford said, after he complained to Bay Pines hospital director Suzanne Klinker that untrained personnel were serving as VA police dispatchers and that VA police dispatch records about problems caused by that move had been deleted or never entered.

Hansford made these allegations in a claim filed last week against the VA, announcing he is seeking nearly $5 million as compensation for lost income and benefits as well as pain and suffering and loss of consortium, a legal term for the loss of marital relations. The claim says Hansford suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the result of how he was treated.

The claim is the first step in filing a lawsuit against a government agency, allowing the agency 180 days to settle, reach a compromise or take no action.
read more here

Colorado Retailer Charged With Scamming Military Families

Colorado Says Retailer Scams Military Families 
Courthouse News Service
By EMMA GANNON
July 20, 2015

DENVER (CN) - USA Discounters Ltd. preys on servicemembers and their families, charging them excessive interest and inappropriate fees on credit transactions, Colorado's attorney general says.

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman sued the company, which is also known as USA Living and Fletcher's Jewelers, last week in Denver District Court.

In her complaint, Coffman says the defendants often locate their stores near large military bases, like Peterson Air Force Base and Fort Carson Army Base, both of which are in Colorado Springs and extend credit to military families. However, once the families begin to rely on that credit to make purchases, they are charged exorbitant fees and abnormally high late penalties, and offered extensions on credit accounts that have been closed.
read more here

Desert Storm OIF PTSD Veteran Files Lawsuit Against Verizon

I have been with Verizon forever and really hope they do the right thing now.

Bronx War Veteran Says Verizon Fired Him to Avoid Dealing With PTSD: Suit
DNA Info
By Eddie Small
July 21, 2015

Roche enlisted in the Marines Corps in 1986 and served in Operation Desert Storm from September 1990 to March 1991, according to the USMC. He was on reserve duty from 1994 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2011, and he was deployed in Iraq from June 2005 to February 2006, according to the Marines.

Roche served in the Marines from 1986 to 2011 and

fought in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, according to the USMC.

THE BRONX — A war veteran fired from Verizon after losing his temper at work claims that the phone company used the argument as an excuse because they were tired of dealing with his PTSD, according to a lawsuit recently filed in Bronx Supreme Court.

Verizon fired Miguel Roche, 48, on Oct. 9, 2014, a few weeks after he told a coworker during a meeting at their Dyre Avenue office that he would "kick his ass," according to Roche and court papers. Although Roche, of Wingdale, NY, who began working there in 1996, said the coworker had been antagonizing him and making his job difficult, he acknowledged that he had acted poorly at the meeting and expressed regret for how he handled himself. read more here

Decorate Disabled Veteran Settles Assault Lawsuit Against Police

Veteran settles police assault suit for $50,000
The Courier Journal
Matthew Glowicki
July 17, 2015

A retired Kentucky National Guard lieutenant colonel who sued a half dozen Louisville Metro Police officers alleging assault and wrongful detention has settled with the city for $50,000.

Donald Blake Settle, a Purple Heart and multiple Bronze Star recipient who served for 29 years and was deployed six times to the Middle East, first filed the suit against the officers in January 2013 in Jefferson Circuit Court.

He claimed that officers stopped him, pulled out a stun gun and eventually forced him face-down into the concrete and handcuffed him as he tried to leave Mid City Mall on Jan. 29, 2012.

Police said at the time they thought Settle was a homeless panhandler because of his dusty clothes and impaired speaking and memory, The Courier-Journal previously reported. They claimed Settle was acting aggressively during the incident and they perceived an imminent assault.

Settle told The Courier-Journal in 2012 that he has memory loss and problems speaking after suffering traumatic brain injuries while in Afghanistan.
read more here

Disabled Iraq Veteran Wins Roto-Rooter Settlement

Wounded Iraq war veteran wins $100K settlement after being fired by Roto-Rooter
Roto-Rooter Services will pay to settle disability discrimination charges.
Star Tribune
By Paul Walsh
JULY 14, 2015

Some of those injuries occurred while the veteran was guarding David Petraeus, the now-retired four-star general who led U.S. battle strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan, Schmid said.

A wounded Iraq war veteran fired by Roto-Rooter in Plymouth will receive $100,000 from the company, according to a federal agreement.

In a conciliation agreement signed Friday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Roto-Rooter Services, the company must pay $100,000 to settle disability discrimination charges for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Firing a war veteran for his disabilities incurred serving his country is just plain wrong and clearly violates federal law,” said Julianne Bowman, director of the EEOC’s Chicago district. “However, we appreciate that Roto-Rooter worked cooperatively with the EEOC to resolve this charge without having to go through protracted litigation.”

The Army veteran, not identified by the EEOC, had worked for Roto-Rooter before he served multiple tours in Iraq and returned with back, leg and head injuries, Julie Schmid, the agency’s acting director in Minneapolis, said Tuesday.
read more here

Albuquerque Police Sued After Vietnam Veteran Shot 9 Times

Sister sues city over APD killing of mentally ill veteran 
Albuquerque Journal
By Scott Sandlin Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Monday, July 6, 2015

Wood was shot nine times, in the chest, abdomen, penis, lower back, buttock and left arm.

The lack of mental health services and police trained to deal with mentally ill people is a focus of a new lawsuit filed against the city over a 2013 fatal police shooting of a Vietnam veteran who talked to himself and heard voices.

The lawsuit claims Albuquerque Police Department and the city failed to make reasonable accommodations to ensure safe treatment and transportation under the Americans with Disabilities Act in the July 5, 2013, shooting of Vietnam veteran Vincent Wood, 66, who had diagnoses of mental illnesses. It also alleges multiple civil rights violations.

Wood, who served in the Army during the Vietnam war, suffered from psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions stemming from his military service, the lawsuit says.

The complaint was filed in 2nd Judicial District Court by attorney Frances Carpenter on behalf of Wood’s sister, Hope Irvin, and moved last week to U.S. District Court by the City of Albuquerque, a named defendant along with Albuquerque Police Department officers Katherine Wright and Jeffrey Bludworth.
read more here

Utah Judge Awards $134.2M in Afghanistan Grenade Attack

Soldiers' families awarded $134.2M in Afghanistan grenade attack
By The Associated Press
July 2, 2015

Khadr pleaded guilty to throwing a grenade that killed Christopher Speer and wounded Layne Morris in 2002. He spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba, and was transferred to Canada in 2012.

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah has awarded $134.2 million to an American soldier wounded in Afghanistan and the widow of another soldier killed there in a lawsuit filed against a Canadian man who pleaded guilty in a grenade attack involving the two soldiers when he was 15.

The plaintiffs acknowledge there is little chance they will collect any of the money. “It's really more of a statement case, I think, than a desire to collect this,” lawyer Laura Tanner, who represents the plaintiffs, said Thursday She said the judgment sends a message that the United States has a civil system in place to hold terrorists responsible.

Still, lawyers are seeking a Canadian law firm to help collect the money from 28-year-old Omar Khadr, who was released from a Canadian prison last month, Tanner said.
read more here

VA Spied on Police Officers?

VA Medical Center execs hid cameras, microphones in police officers’ rooms: suit 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY NINA GOLGOWSKI
June 23, 2015

Shortly after, another was allegedly found in a room informally used by both male and female officers to change in.

D.C's VA Medical Center has allegedly gone Big Brother.

Hidden cameras and microphones have been discovered in several rooms — including a changing room — used by the medical center's police officers, a bombshell lawsuit claims.

Two dozen current and former officers say the devices were set up by the department's police chief and the medical center's director as a means to illegally spy on their employees.

Any behavior or information captured and suspected as illicit would allegedly then lead to disciplinary action including officers' suspension and termination.

In addition to violating the 24 officers' privacy and constitutional rights, the surveillance created "an atmosphere of utter distrust amongst all employees," the suit alleges.

That distrust is apparently ongoing amid suspicions that not all of the cameras and microphones were found and that they're still recording.
read more here

Court Overturns Justice for National Guard Soldiers

Court overturns $85 million award for Oregon soldiers
AP
By Steven Dubois
May 14, 2015

A federal jury in Portland found KBR guilty of negligence after a three-week trial in late 2012. Each of the 12 soldiers was awarded $850,000 in noneconomic damages and $6.25 million in punitive damages.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an $85 million jury award to a dozen Oregon National Guard soldiers who said they were sickened from guarding a water treatment plant during the Iraq War.

The military contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root successfully argued that Oregon was not the proper jurisdiction for the case. KBR is based in Houston, and similar cases filed by soldiers from Indiana, West Virginia and South Carolina are pending in federal court there.

“We are thrilled with the result; it is the right result and we look forward to a successful conclusion to this and all the legacy tort claims that relate to KBR’s work supporting the U.S. military in Iraq,” KBR attorney Geoffrey Harrison said by phone Thursday.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans of America Take PTSD Battle to Court

Veterans Nail Feds on Old Discharge Records 
Courthouse News
By CHRISTINE STUART
May 6, 2015

The groups say they in turn filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act for records showing how the boards adjudicated PTSD-related applications before and after Hagel's so-called "PTSD Updgrade Memo."

NEW HAVEN (CN) - Veterans groups claim in Federal Court that the military is trying to keep a lid on "bad-paper discharges" it handed tens of thousands of service members who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder before the medical community recognized that condition.

Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress brought the complaint on Monday against the U.S. Department of Defense and three military branches.

They say that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs denies disability compensation and other benefits to veterans who received other-than-honorable (OTH) discharges, but that many who received such "bad-paper discharges" are the tens of thousands of servicemembers suffering from undiagnosed PTSD.

PTSD was not recognized as a medical condition until 1980, according to the complaint. 

While Congress has created internal boards to consider applications by veterans seeking to revise their discharge papers, the veterans say these boards "have collectively failed to prioritize or take seriously discharge upgrade requests from veterans diagnosed with PTSD stemming from military service."

From 1993 to 2014, the Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records approved fewer than 5 percent of these type of applications from Vietnam veterans, according to the complaint.

 Crediting a class action they filed last year, the groups note that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel issued a memorandum in September 2014 that instructed the boards to give veterans with PTSD "liberal consideration." read more here

Navy SEAL's Widow Fights in Court

Navy Seal's Death No Suicide, Widow Says
Courthouse News
By JOCELYN RARDIN
May 5, 2015

NORFOLK, Va (CN) - The widow of a traumatized Navy Seal sued Unum Life Insurance Company of America in Federal Court after they denied life-insurance benefits on one of two policies based on a suicide clause.

Jennifer Mullen Collins sued Unum in the Eastern District of Virginia for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act after the company refused to honor her husband's supplemental life-insurance policy, believing he had committed suicide.

Special Operations Chief David M. Collins served a 20-year career as a Navy Seal, deployed on multiple grueling back-to-back tours of duty in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. As a result of the traumatic experiences he endured in service to his country, he developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, post-traumatic stress disorder and major-depressive disorder, the complaint states.

During his 20-year career as a Navy Seal, Collins was exposed to multiple blasts and experienced multiple injuries due to combat and combat training. He also suffered multiple concussions.

Upon returning home from his tours of duty, SOC Collins became employed with Blackbird Technologies and in September 2012 he was provided with Unum basic group life insurance for $104,000 and a supplemental policy for $500,000, according to the complaint.

In February 2014 Collins sought treatment at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth for his diminished mental abilities. He exhibited symptoms of anxiety, depression, insomnia and memory and concentration problems.

Doctors diagnosed Collins with depressive and anxiety disorders. After two therapy sessions at a counseling center, doctors also diagnosed him with PTSD and major-depressive disorder.

Less than a week later, Collins died "due to the diseases he developed during his service to his country," the complaint states.

Five different doctors evaluated Collins' mental state and each concluded that he was suffering from CTE, PTSD and/or MDD before and at the time of his death. According to the Boston University Center, CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem based on an examination of the fontal lobes of the brain.
read more here

Servicemembers Win Fight for $3.1 Million

Servicemembers win $3.1M relief over hidden fees 
USA TODAY
Kevin McCoy
April 20, 2015

One of the largest U.S. processors of bill payments by military servicemembers will pay nearly $3.1 million in consumer relief after a review found the firm charged millions of dollars in hidden fees. Kentucky-based Military Assistance Company and its parent firm, Fort Knox National Co., will repay soldiers, sailors, Marines and other servicemembers who were harmed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday.

"Servicemembers paid millions of dollars in fees, probably without knowing it," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "Today we are taking action, and others should take note."

Under the terms of a consent order, the companies will pay the settlement to the CFPB, which will contact servicemembers who may be eligible for refunds. read more here

Iraq Marine Veteran With PTSD Tormented by Coworkers

Corrections Officer Says PTSD Treated As Joke
Courthouse News
By DAVID KLEIN

March 23, 2015

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - A corrections officer and former Marine was repeatedly discriminated against by his supervisors and co-workers who saw his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as something to ridicule, the Iraq War veteran claims in a lawsuit.

Christopher Fustos served in the Marine Corps in Iraq from February 2004 through November 2007, and was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat. According to the complaint he filed in the Knoxville Federal Court, the wounding was caused by an exploding hand grenade, and the explosion left him with numerous scars on his back.

Fustos was hired by Knox County, Tenn. on March 26, 2012, to work as a corrections officer. He says the discrimination he experienced began just over two years later, when, while working on July 4, a fellow officer yelled, "So Fustos, those scars on your back, are they direction arrows for your boyfriend so he knows where to stick it?"

"During this incident, Mr. Fustos' superiors (Lieutenants) were among the crowd laughing and cheering," the complaint says.

"Multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment occurred thereafter."

Fustos goes on to claim that during another incident his "co-workers took facility-provided gloves, and popped them loudly behind Mr. Fustos' ears, stating, 'Hey, I'm helping you with your PTSD! Its therapy for you!!'"

In addition he says, on two separate occasions stated in front of his fellow officers, "Hey Fustos, when your PTSD kicks in and you shoot up the place, remember who was nice to you and who gives you time off!"
read more here