Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Vets win Agent Orange benefits

|
|
 
  
Published: July 20, 2007 at 1:48 PM

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a lower court ruling backing Vietnam veterans who got cancer from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

In the latest case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for continuing to resist paying benefits to some 31,000 veterans who contracted leukemia as a result of serving in Vietnam, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

"Those young Americans who risked their lives in their country's service and are even today suffering greatly as a result are deserving of better treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs than they are currently receiving," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the opinion.

What is difficult to understand, he said, is why the department continues to resist implementing a settlement agreed to 16 years ago.

The attorney for the plaintiffs, Barton Stichman, predicts Thursday's appellate court ruling will lead to millions in benefits for disabled veterans.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
High school coach retires at 65 after getting arrested nude, "aroused" in car backseat with 17-year-old...
Man arrested for stealing $25k worth of Tide detergent. Witnesses say the suspect appeared quite...
News: Two cars fighting gun battle on Interstate accidentally fire into car of innocent women. Fark:...
Dads, before showing "The Smurfs" DVD from your laptop at your kid's birthday party, make sure you...
It's a Jeep thing. You wouldn't understand
Baby shower ends with three people stabbed after a drunken argument between relatives of mom-to-be...