YLS Veterans Clinic Wins Major Victory in Adjustment Disorder, Denial of Benefits Case

A U.S. Army National Guard veteran represented by Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic won a major victory in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, September 30, when a Judge ruled that the Army discharged him based on a medical error and in violation of Army regulations.

“We believe this is the first court in the nation to conclude the armed forces wrongly discharged a service member for an alleged adjustment disorder." — Ashley Anderson ’16The decision came nearly a year after William Cowles, a Connecticut native, filed a lawsuit challenging the illegal denial of his application for medical retirement and correction to his military records. Cowles is one of numerous veterans with honorable service whose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was misdiagnosed by the military as Adjustment Disorder or Personality Disorder, resulting in subsequent denial of earned retirement and benefits, according to students from the clinic.

“We believe this is the first court in the nation to conclude the armed forces wrongly discharged a service member for an alleged adjustment disorder,” said Ashley Anderson ’16, a law student intern in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which represents Mr. Cowles.

In the ruling, Judge Janet Hall, of the U.S. District Court of Connecticut, found that the Army misdiagnosed Cowles with Adjustment Disorder, and violated its own separation regulations in discharging him. Judge Hall also found that the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) erred in its denial of Cowles’s application for a record correction, and remanded his application to the ABCMR for further proceedings consistent with the decision.

“Judge Hall’s decision should pave the way for Mr. Cowles to receive the full retirement and educational benefits he deserves,” said Linda Zang ’15, another law student intern representing Mr. Cowles.

Mr. Cowles joined the Army in 1974 as a combat engineer, and served honorably for over 20 years. In 2003 he deployed to Iraq, where he witnessed the death of men from his unit and the brutal killing of a civilian truck driver. He suffered a breakdown and was medically evacuated. After two brief evaluations, the Army erroneously determined that he had Adjustment Disorder and immediately discharged him, thereby denying him the retirement benefits he earned, according to the lawsuit. Just two months later, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) diagnosed him with service-connected PTSD. Each military service branch operates an administrative board empowered to correct an error or injustice in a discharge. Cowles applied to the ABCMR to correct his discharge to medical retirement, but the ABCMR denied his request last year, according to the lawsuit.

“This is a huge win for Mr. Cowles and for so many other veterans who have been illegally and improperly denied recognition and benefits,” said Phoebe Clarke ’15, another law student intern in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic. “For Mr. Cowles, the fight is not over, but the fact that Judge Hall is holding the ABCMR accountable is a promising sign for other veterans who were improperly discharged.”

Members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, veterans’ organizations such as Vietnam Veterans of America (see reports here and here), and investigative journalists have criticized the military for basing more than 30,000 discharges on adjustment disorder or personality disorder since September 11, 2001, including thousands done in violation of Defense Department procedures. Students from the clinic said that the Army misdiagnoses many service members with Adjustment Disorder and Personality Disorder who actually have PTSD. As a result, these veterans cannot receive benefits from the Army and the VA – benefits that veterans recognized as having PTSD at the time of discharge receive.

Cowles is represented by law student interns Phoebe Clarke, Ashley Anderson, and Linda Zang of the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic, under the supervision of Michael Wishnie and Bethany Li.