Firm News

Wiggin and Dana filed an amicus brief this week on behalf of Former General Counsels of the Department of Veterans Affairs Will A. Gunn and Mary Lou Keener, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to require the VA to resolve disabled veterans’ appeals more quickly. On average, veterans must wait five to seven years to get a final decision when they appeal VA disability determinations. Yet only a small fraction—less than one in five—of VA disability determinations are fully affirmed on appeal, meaning that most veterans forced to wait years for a decision have meritorious appeals. Wiggin has filed briefs on behalf of the Former General Counsels of the VA in this case for several years, including one submitted when the case went for the first time to the Federal Circuit. That brief urged the court to hold that the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims had the power to certify classes, which it could use to improve the administration of justice for veterans. The Federal Circuit agreed, finding that aggregated claims would “promote efficiency, consistency, and fairness in its decisions,” an outcome that should be welcome to both the Nation and the veterans who have served it (click here to view that earlier decision). The Former General Counsels of the Department of Veterans Affairs are represented pro bono in this matter by Jonathan Freiman and Kristyn Hansen of Wiggin, along with former Wiggin attorney Jennifer McTiernan.