VVA-Personality/Adjustment Disorder Discharges

The clinic represents Vietnam Veterans of America and its Connecticut chapters in a multi-pronged effort to end the unlawful discharge of thousands of service members on the alleged ground of a personality or adjustment disorder and to secure redress for the 31,000 men and women discharged on this basis since 2001. The clinic has drafted federal legislation and proposed regulations to redress these wrongful discharges, litigated two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to obtain records regarding these practices, and authored two white papers for VVA analyzing records disclosed to date in the FOIA litigation. 

Vietnam Veterans of America v. U.S. Dept. of Defense, ___ F.Supp. 2d ___, 2014 WL 1284970 (D.Conn. Mar. 31, 2014) (granting in part and denying in part DoD motion for summary judgment in FOIA action)

Vietnam Veterans of America v. U.S. Dept. of Defense, ___ F.Supp. 2d ___, 2014 WL 1281725 (D.Conn. Mar. 28, 2014) (denying government motion to dismiss FOIA action)

Disorder in the Coast Guard: The United States Coast Guard's Illegal Personality and Adjustment Disorder Discharges (Feb. 2014)

Press Release: Previously Withheld Records Reveal Widespread Illegality in U.S. Coast Guard Mental Health Discharges (Feb. 27, 2014.)

Amended Complaint, Vietnam Veterans of America v. U.S. Dept. of Def., 3:10-cv-1972-AWT (D.Conn.) (“VVA I”)

Complaint, Vietnam Veterans of America v. U.S. Dept. of Def., 3:11-cv-2009-WWE (D.Conn.) (“VVA II”) 

Casting Troops Aside: The United States Military’s Illegal Personality Disorder Discharge Problem (Mar. 2012) 

Media Clips:

Lisa Chedekel, Vet Groups Want Answers To ‘Wrongful’ Discharges, New Haven Independent, Dec 15, 2010

Kelly Kennedy, Group sues over personality disorder discharges, Army Times, Dec 15, 2010

Nikita Lalwani, Law School clinic files second suit this week against Department of Defense, Yale Daily News, Dec 15, 2010

Joseph Picard, Pentagon swindling vets, lawsuit says, International Business Times, Dec 15, 2010

Mark Spence, Personality Disorder Discharges Target Of Veterans Group Lawsuit, Hartford Courant, Dec 15, 2010

Yale law clinic sues to get veterans' health data, New Haven Register, December 16, 2010

Besty Yagla, Yale Helps Two Veterans Groups File Lawsuits Against Federal Agencies, New Haven Advocate, Dec 21, 2010

Dahr Jamail,  Melissa Ader, Lawsuit Demands Misdiagnosed Veterans Receive Benefits, Talknationradio.com, December 30, 2010

Sarah Yager, Fighting on two fronts,  The Yale Herald, January 22, 2011

Chris Coughlin, Money Saved at Misdiagnosed Vets' Expense, Courthouse News Service, December 30, 2011

James Dao, Branding a Soldier With 'Personality Disorder', The New York Times, February 24, 2012

Dr. Phil Leveque, Military Psychiatrists with Personality Disorder, Salem-News.com, Feb 29, 2012

Mary E. O’Leary, Department of Defense illegally discharged veterans for having personality disorder, Yale group finds, New Haven Register, Mar 22, 2012

Newly Disclosed Records Reveal Hundreds More Illegal Personality Discharges; VVA Finds Navy and Air Force Worst Offenders, PR Newswire, March 22, 2012

Vietnam Vets of America Documents Troops Cast Aside With PTSD, Benefits Denied, Scribillare, March 22, 2012

Military's Illegal Personality Disorder Discharge Problem, Wounded Times Blog, March 23. 2012

Erik Slavin, Veterans study: Thousands wrongfully discharged for personality disorders, Stars and Stripes, March 26, 2012

Julie M. Rodriguez, Military Labels Rape Victims “Crazy”, care2.com, Apr 18, 2012

Sanjay Gupta, Stephanie Schroeder's military sex assault claim leads to psych discharge, CNN, Apr 20, 2012