Rooked by Insurance Fine Print, Veterans Say

Courthouse News  May 16, 2012

NEWARK (CN) – A federal class of defense contractors claim that Prudential Insurance teamed up with their employers to sell them worthless policies encumbered by wartime exclusions.

Lead plaintiffs Alexander Menkes and Stephen Wolfe say they began working for Westar Aerospace & Defense Group at the U.S. airbase stationed out of Kirkuk, Iraq, after finishing their stints with the military.

Westar, as an agent for defense contractor QinetiQ, offered both veterans a basic package of benefits upon their hiring.

In addition to the basics, Menkes and Wolfe also had the opportunity to purchase additional Prudential policies: Buy-Up Long Term Disability, Supplemental Term Life Insurance and Supplemental Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance.

Although these policies cost a premium every month, Menkes and Wolfe say Prudential, Westar and QinetiQ assured them that the policies “would provide … coverage and protection while plaintiffs and members of the class performed their job duties in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.”

In reality, however, the additional Prudential policies all contained “exclusions from coverage based upon ‘disability due to war, declared or undeclared, or any act of war,” the 50-page complaint states.
Menkes seeks to represent a subclass for clients whose claims Prudential denied.

He claims that he filed a claim with Prudential for disability benefits after suffering “a lumbar back injury, a positive test for exposure to tuberculosis that required long-term antibiotic therapy, and post-traumatic stress disorder manifesting in symptoms, including but not limited to, insomnia, stress and nightmares he suffered as a result of exposure to rocket attacks, mortars and gunfire from January 2009 through July 2009.”

Prudential refused to distribute benefits from any of the three additional policies it had sold Menkes, telling him the injuries he sustained were due to an “occupational sickness,” which was a “contractual provision of the war exclusion,” according to the complaint.

Prudential and QinetiQ reaped “excessive profits” by selling insurance policies that had “diminished or no value” for the defense contractors they targeted, according to the suit.

While raking in premiums for “worthless” coverage, clients could not receive “disability coverage for their lost income and/or benefits suffered due to injuries, death and/or dismemberment occurring in the ‘wartime’ conditions and/or as a result ‘acts of war’ in Iraq and/or Afghanistan where they were performing job duties know, intended and expected to be performed by the defendants,” the complaint states.

The class seeks punitive damages for consumer fraud, breach of contract, misrepresentation, and violations of the Truth Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act.

It is represented by Andrew Bell with Locks Law Firm, of Cherry Hill.

Please see the original and read more here

See also

Veterans Agency Made Secret Deal Over Benefits

War Profiteering: Dead Soldiers’ Parents Sue Insurers Over Military Benefits

Fallen Soldiers’ Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit

Recognition for Civilians in Afghanistan

 

However, the first recipient was Nic Crouch, a private security contractor who was killed whilst working in Iraq.

His parents received the medal posthumously on his behalf last month.

The medal means the world to Nic’s parents. Awarded to their son after his death, it is official recognition for his work supporting the mission in Afghanistan. But they have had to fight for that recognition.

The Civilian Service Medal is now awarded to many outside the military who have supported the Afghan campaign. At a lavish ceremony, 110 civilians received their medal, presented by the Foreign Secretary.

 

A cost of war: Soaring disability benefits for veterans, while the cost of civilian veterans disabilities is kept in the dark

CNN Money A cost of war: Soaring disability benefits for veterans

Daniel Brink of South Africa was severally wounded and disabled working in Iraq. His medical care and indemnity are the also the responsibility of the US Taxpayer under the Defense Base Act only no one has the integrity to be honest about it.

After more than a decade of continuous warfare, the cost of disability compensation for wounded veterans is surging to mammoth proportions.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs expects to spend $57 billion on disability benefits next year. That’s up 25% from $46 billion this year, and nearly quadruple the $15 billion spent in 2000, before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

“This is the cost of going to war,” said Larry Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who served as assistant secretary of defense during the Ronald Reagan administration. “We’ve made so much progress in medicine [that] you’re going to have a lot of people survive their injuries who didn’t in the past.”

About 4,500 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq and about 1,800 have been killed in Afghanistan. Some 633,000 veterans — one out of every four of the 2.3 million who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — have a service-connected disability, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Please read the entire article here

All’s Fair in Love and AIG WAR? No Ethics ?

Defense Base Act Claimants really are in another War Zone when they must file a DBA Claim.

As it turns out many, too many, of the Plaintiff’s own Attorneys are aiding and abetting the enemy

Last January ALJ  Berlin awarded the Dill Widow DBA Death Benefits in a very important PTSD/Suicide Claim.

This claim was denied for five years while Wade Dill’s  widow Barbara’s integrity was brutally attacked as though she had pulled the trigger herself.

KBR refused to supply Wade Dill’s medical records and other reports which would have exposed the state of mind he was in while still in Iraq.  But it is OK to defy discovery if you are AIG/KBR-SEII.  Do not try this yourself, you’ll lose your claim.

Dennis Nalick was the Attorney who brought this claim to a successful decision. 

Barbara Dill’s next Attorney, Bruce H Nicholson, refused to address misinformation in the records saying “you won the claim why would you want to mess with it”.

Mr Nicholson refuted any suggestion that this very important decision would be appealed.  He went so far as to tell the Widow that she should discontinue corresponding with those who assured her it would be.  Bad people we are, just trying to upset her needlessly.

AIG KBR SEII via Michael Thomas appealed the decision.

Mr Nicholson never responded to the Benefits Review Board on behalf of the Widow though he assured her he was on top of it and he and the widow corresponded regularly.

On February 28 the BRB overturned the ALJ’s decision, unopposed.  The widow was not represented at all.

Mr. Nicholson was though, prior to this decision, negotiating a “settlement” with Michael Thomas and AIG which would take this important PTSD Suicide decision out of this WAR as case law for all impending and future PTSD Suicide claims.  The same Mr Nicholson who posted here at the blog in response to the award:

“The decision represents a sound road map for work related contractor suicide claims and is unlikely to be overturned when followed.”

We ask, is no one in this wretched biased system held to any standard of ethical practice?

Mr Nicholson was responsible for representing the Widow and he did not.

Would it not have been a requirement of those who were involved in this to make the widow aware, to speak up?

We do not kid ourselves that this was simply a case of friendly fire.  There was too much at stake here.

US Spec Ops Serviceman, with diagnosed TBI, kills 16 in house to house village shooting

IGNORE THE SYMPTOMS, FAIL TO ACKNOWLEDGE,

Someone always pays, just not those responsible

By msnbc.com staff and news services  March 14, 2012

Updated at 7:59 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. soldier who allegedly shot 16 Afghan villagers was caught on surveillance video that showed him walking up to his base and raising his arms in surrender, Afghan officials who viewed the footage said.

The video reportedly was shot from a blimp and showed the soldier walking up to his base covered in a traditional Afghan shawl. The soldier removed the shawl and put his weapon on the ground, then raised his arms in surrender, unidentified Afghan officials told Reuters and The Associated Press.

---

The video had been shown to investigators to help dispel a widely held belief among Afghans, including many members of parliament, that more than one soldier must have been involved because of the high death toll, the officials told journalists.

Shooting suspect was trained sniper  March12, 2012

The soldier detained for the shootings in Afghanistan was a qualified infantry sniper, a senior Department of Defense official told CNN. (See also: heightened security in Afghanistan)

The soldier was injured in a vehicle rollover while in Iraq in 2010, according to the official. The official described it as a non-combat rollover. He was diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) but was found fit for duty.

His family has been moved on to Joint Base Lewis-McChord for their safety, the official said.

After an Afghan soldier alerted the U.S. military at the base of the soldier’s initial departure, the U.S. military put up an aircraft to search for the missing soldier. Soon after, Afghan civilians came to the gate carrying wounded civilians, the first indication the military had of the shooting.

When the soldier turned himself over to the search party, he immediately invoked his rights not to speak. He has been moved to Kandahar and put in pre-trial confinement, a congressional source told CNN.

  March 11, 2012 10pm

“It appears he walked off post and later returned and turned himself in,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Williams, a military spokesman. The NATO force said the assailant acknowledged he had inflicted an unspecified number of casualties during the shootings, which began about 3 a.m.

The soldier’s name has not been released, but a U.S. official told ABC News he is a 38-year-old staff sergeant who is married with two children and had served three tours in Iraq This was his first tour in Afghanistan, where he has been since early December, the official said.

Separately, a senior U.S. military official confirmed that the sergeant was attached to a unit based at Lewis-McChord, located near Tacoma, and that he had been part of what is called a village-stabilization operation in Afghanistan, in which teams of Green Berets, supported by other soldiers, try to develop close ties with village elders, organize local police units and track down Taliban leaders. The official said the sergeant was not a Green Beret himself.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – A soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in cold blood while they slept is a staff sergeant from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a U.S. official has confirmed

The soldier’s name has not been released, but a U.S. official told ABC News he is a 38-year-old staff sergeant who is married with two children, and served three tours in Iraq. This was his first tour in Afghanistan, where he has been since early December, the official said

LA Times  March 11, 2012

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan — A lone American serviceman slipped away from his base in southern Afghanistan before dawn Sunday and went on a methodical house-to-house shooting spree in a nearby village, killing 16 people, nearly all of them women and children, according to Afghan officials who visited the scene.

The NATO force confirmed that the assailant was in military custody, and that he had inflicted an unspecified number of casualties during the shooting spree at about 3 a.m. Sunday. The U.S. Embassy called for calm and expressed deep condolences; the Taliban referred to the killings as an “act of genocide.”

The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the shooter was a staff sergeant and a member of the U.S. special operations forces who had been involved in training the Afghan police.

The incident, potentially the worst atrocity of the 10-year war to be deliberately carried out by a single member of the Western military, represents a stunning setback to U.S.-Afghan relations, already shaken by last month’s burning of copies of the Koran at a U.S. military base north of Kabul

Please see the original and read more here

Family says DynCorp lied about killing

Courthouse News  March 6, 2012

DETROIT (CN) – A family claims in Federal Court that DynCorp International covered up the shooting of their son, who allegedly was shot to death by a drunken co-worker in Iraq.
The family of the late Justin Pope sued DynCorp and 12 of its employees, including the alleged shooter, Kyle Palmer.
The family claims Palmer was drunk when he shot and killed Justin Pope in front of at least 11 other DynCorp employees on March 4, 2009. They say in the complaint that “Defendant Palmer pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the case of United States v. Kyle Palmer … and on March 29, 2010, was sentenced to, among other things, three (3) years in prison for the crime.”
The men worked as security specialists for DynCorp in Kirkuk, Iraq, assigned to protect American diplomats and dignitaries. DynCorp is a private military contractor based in Falls Church, Va.
Pope, a Detroit native who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was 25 at the time of his death.
Pope’s family claims DynCorp and the alleged witnesses conjured up a story to cover up the facts of his death.
The complaint states: “Defendant Palmer in his drunkenness, pulled out a gun, pointed it at Justin’s mouth, pulled the trigger, and shot Justin to death

“Within 24 hours, defendants commenced a series of events as part of a conspiracy amongst and between themselves as well as, at some point, agents of the United States government, to deceive and mislead the public – and Justin’s family, plaintiffs herein, in particular – with regard to the facts and circumstances of Justin’s death, withholding the truth from them.
“Among the falsehoods that Defendants affirmatively told plaintiffs and/or communicated to the public, at various times from March 4, 2009 to the present and continuing, were the following:
“a. That Justin was alone when he was killed;
“b. That Justin shot himself;
“c. That Justin was intoxicated, in violation of DynCorp policy;
“d. That Justin was shot by his own firearm;
“e. That Justin was shot because he and Palmer were pointing their guns at one another;
“f. That Justin, while intoxicated, pointed his gun at Palmer’s head;
“g. That Justin’s death was exclusively his fault; and
“h. Other falsehoods.
“Among the facts that defendants deliberately concealed from plaintiffs were the following:
“a. That defendant Palmer shot and killed Justin;
“b. That Justin was shot from a distance of at least several feet;
“c. That there was no evidence that Justin had ingested alcohol or any other intoxicants;
“d. That there were at least eleven (11) people in the room at the time that Justin was shot;
“e. That there was widespread ingestion of alcohol and intoxication amongst DynCorp employees, including but not limited to individual Defendants
Palmer, Fleming, Hillestad, Augustine, Igo, Tanner, Isaac [Doe 1] and Doe #’s 2-7, the night of Justin’s shooting death;
“That while DynCorp claimed to have a policy of zero tolerance for alcohol ingestion by DynCorp employees on its premises in Iraq, in fact, alcohol abuse was permitted, tolerated, authorized, condoned, approved, known, and promoted by Defendant DynCorp;
“That defendant DynCorp had ordered all its employees who were present in Justin’s room when he was shot and killed to go into a room and not come out until they had agreed upon a story as to how it had happened so they could conceal the truth; and
“Other pertinent information.
“Plaintiffs to this date have never been provided any information regarding the medical treatment that was provided to Justin after he was shot and before he died.
“Plaintiffs to this date have never been provided any of defendant DynCorp’s investigation reports or information about the internal investigation that supposedly occurred after the shooting.”
Even after Palmer’s conviction and sentencing, DynCorp continues to stick to its fabricated story, Pope’s family says.
They add: “The acts, false statements and omissions of defendants, described above, were intentional, willful, wanton, and designed to cause pain and injury. They were malicious, and were performed in violation of and with deliberate indifference and/or in reckless disregard of plaintiffs’ respective emotional well-being. …
These craven acts of dishonesty, some of which occurred immediately after Justin’s death and in the wake of his family’s shock and grief, and continue to this day, consisted both of fabricating events that did not happen (e.g. telling Justin’s family that ‘he shot himself’) and of intentionally withholding information regarding the circumstances of his death from the family. These acts of dishonesty were committed directly by defendants, and as part of the conspiracy, alleged herein, amongst defendants and with agents and officials of the United States government.”
Pope’s family seeks exemplary damages for conspiracy to intentionally inflict emotional injury, and intentional infliction of emotional injury.
They are represented by William Goodman, with Goodman Hurwitz

Please see the original and read more here

First new civilian medal presented posthumously to Norfolk suicide bomb victim Nic Crouch

Norwhich Evening News  March 3, 2012

The first of a new set of civilian medals has been presented posthumously to a Norfolk man who died in a suicude bomb blast

But the small piece of metal carries a huge message of hope and comfort for the family of Nic Crouch.

The Civilian Service Medal recalls his service as a private security worker in the Middle East – and sees the fulfilment of a wish he penned in a poignant letter to his parents in north Norfolk in case he was killed.

After Mr Crouch died, aged just 29, in a suicide car bomb blast in Iraq in July 2010, his family received a letter saying: “If I should be killed in Afghanistan/Iraq and the media is interested, I should like them to know how I and all the other former soldiers contributed to the Great Game.

“I seek no personal glory, but many good Paras and ex-Servicemen have died supporting these operations with little or no recognition of their bravery.”

Now after an 18-month battle by his parents, who have moved from Trimingham to Sheringham since Nic’s death, Mr Crouch has been awarded the first of the newly-created Civilian Service (Afghanistan) Medals.

His father Clive Crouch said: “I am pleased we have managed to get a tick in the box for one of Nic’s requests. The medal is not just for him, but for all his colleagues, particularly those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

With more and more civilian workers doing support duties for shrinking armed forces it was all the more important to get recognition for their service, which was a far cry from the mercenary “dogs of war” that some people associated with overseas security duties.

What Nic did was “duty in a tough environment” and the MP was pleased the posthumous medal was presented at the Foreign Office this week by Alistair Burt, the foreign secretary for Middle Eastern affairs.

“Bereavement is incredibly difficult particularly when a young man is involved, and when you feel there has not been proper recognition of what your child has done. It hurts profoundly,” said Mr Lamb, who hoped the award would help the family move on.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the Queen approved the introduction of the new medal last June, which would be awarded to UK civilians who, like Mr Crouch, had “served in direct support of Her Majesty’s Government’s objectives in Afghanistan since 2001.

“It recognises their dedicated work in this challenging, often dangerous environment. Their important work is integral to the achievement of a stable and secure Afghanistan,” he added, confirming Mr Crouch was the first recipient

Please see the original and read more here

US embassy to ‘localise’ Iraq operations

AFP February 16, 2012

BAGHDAD — The United States embassy in Iraq is to increase its reliance on local goods and services as part of efforts to cut the size of its mission, the largest in the world, a top State Department official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Thomas Nides told reporters during a visit to Baghdad that as part of such efforts, “we’ll look at the contract piece,” specifically “purchasing more local goods and services.”

“We’re basically telling our contractors we expect them to source more of the food internally than bringing it over the border, and so that will obviously lessen our dependence on some of the contracts,” Nides said.

“We have a very much aggressive hire … Iraqi programme, meaning that we’re being very clear not only to our contractors but even here for our staff to begin to localise much of our operations,” he said.

Contractors, he said, have been given targets to reach.

Please read the entire article here

Americans Missing, Left Behind in Iraq, mostly contractors

“Basically, the mentality of the Secretary of State seems to be that if the

United States loses a member  of the United States military,

then the loss becomes a relevant statistic on the ‘War on Terror,’

when the United States loses a contractor . . .

then there is no accounting for the loss of life. . . .

a result, the true cost in lives and money

of the ‘War on Terror’ is understated.” 

from Joshua Munns case

While the DPMO shows only 4 Americans left behind in Iraq

Missing in Action: Service Members and Civilian Contractors left behind

Susie Dow at The Missing Man has compiled a list which includes 18 Americans left behind, the majority of those being Civilian Contractors

Below is a chart showing the name, incident date, an expired link to an incident report (SIGACT), and status of those Americans known to be missing and/or held hostage in Iraq in table format. The chart shows an estimated 18 missing Americans of whom, the names of 6 are unknown. An additional 2 American’s names are known but the date of incident is not.

Text of available SIGACT reports are posted at SIGACT Reports of Americans Missing in Iraq.

Americans Missing in Iraq – as of January 21, 2012

Names missing from the chart below: Hussain al-Zurufi and Bob Hamze

	Date	Name – incident report	Status
1	Oct 9, 2003	Kirk von Ackermann	missing	1
2	Apr 9, 2004	Thomas Hamill (link expired)Convoy Attack	escaped
3	Apr 9, 2004	Nicholas Evan Berg	deceased
4	Apr 9, 2004	William Bradley	deceased
5	Apr 9, 2004	Pfc Keith Matthew Maupin	deceased
6	Apr 9, 2004	Timothy E Bell  Convoy Attack	missing	2
7	May 3, 2004	Aban Elias	missing	3
8	Aug 13, 2004	Micah Garen	released
9	Sept 16, 2004	Jack Henlsey	deceased
10	Sept 16, 2004	Olin Eugene Armstrong Jr	deceased
11	Oct 10, 2004	Paul Taggart	released
12	Nov 1, 2004	Roy Hallums	released
13	Nov 2, 2004	Dean Sadek	missing	4
14	Apr 11, 2005	Jeffrey Ake	missing	5
15	May 17, 2005	Neenus Y. Khoshaba – incident?	missing	6
16	Aug 2, 2005	Steven Charles Vincent	deceased
17	Sept 27, 2005	Abbas Kareem Naama (Tim)	missing	7
18	Nov 25, 2005	Ronald Alan Schulz	deceased
19	Nov 26, 2005	Thomas William Fox	deceased
20	Dec 2, 2005	unknown #1	missing	8
21	Jan 7, 2006	Jill Carroll	released
22	Jun 16, 2006	Pfc Kristian Menchaca	deceased
23	Jun 16, 2006	Pfc Thomas Tucker	deceased
24	Oct 23, 2006	Sgt Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie	missing	9
25	Nov 16, 2006	Jonathon Michael Cote	deceased
26	Nov 16, 2006	Paul Christopher Johnson-Reuben	deceased
27	Nov 16, 2006	Joshua Mark Munns   Torture	deceased
28	Nov 16, 2006	John Roy Young	deceased
29	Nov 27, 2006	Maj Troy Lee Gilbert (deceased)	missing	10
30	Jan 5, 2007	Ronald J Withrow	deceased
31	Jan 27, 2007	unknown #2 – incident?	missing	11
32	Jan 27, 2007	unknown #3 – incident?	missing	12
33	Feb 1, 2007	unknown #4 Iraqi-American	missing	13
34	Mar 3, 2007	Adnan al-Hilawi	missing	14
35	Apr 25, 2007	unknown #5	missing	15
36	May 12, 2007	Sgt Alex Ramon Jimenez	deceased
37	May 12, 2007	Pfc Byron W Fouty	deceased
38	May 25, 2007	unknown #6	missing	16
39	Aug 17, 2007	unknown #7	missing	17
40	summer 2008	unknown #8	missing	18
41	May 21, 2009	Jim Kitterman	deceased
42	Jan 23, 2010	Issa T Salomi	released

A Military Cutback We Can’t Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases

Leishmaniasis at The Iraq Infections

“In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans”

Barbara Herwaldt, CDC, on Leishmaniasis

Contractors will be even less likely to be diagnosed and/or treated timely or effectively despite the possibility you can transmit this to your family

Peter Hotez & James Kazura at The Atlantic

In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budget reductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks. Unfortunately, even programs proven to be cost effective are vulnerable to cuts. Medical research for our troops is no exception to this rule — programs such as the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority list despite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here at home.

One important area of research is tropical medicine. During World War II and the Vietnam War, more than one million service members acquired tropical infections such as malaria, dengue fever, hookworm, and typhus, and many of these diseases continued to plague our veterans after they returned home. Today, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still face formidable tropical disease threats, especially from a disease transmitted by the bite of sand flies known as leishmaniasis, which can cause a disfiguring ulcer in one form, and a serious systemic condition that clinically resembles leukemia in another. In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans.

WRAIR’s leishmaniasis diagnostic laboratory is the only one of its kind in the world, so each time funding is slashed our military loses considerable expertise and capabilities in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this devastating disease. For example, in the years prior to the Gulf War, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was officially decommissioned and all research was halted. Only after cases of leishmaniasis among U.S. forces exposed to sand-fly bites in the Iraqi desert were the remaining leishmaniasis experts at WRAIR quickly assembled and tasked with making up for lost time. In 2002, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was again dissolved only to be urgently activated once more with the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The interruptions to the WRAIR leishmaniasis program are part of much larger budget cuts across all of WRAIR’s tropical infectious disease research programs. There is no end to the irony of such cutbacks given that they coincide with the activation in 2008 of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), charged with fighting the war on terror across the African continent. Today, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of cases of tropical diseases anywhere in the world. Many of these tropical infections, such as river blindness and African sleeping sickness, have been shown to destabilize communities and may actually promote conflict in the region.

Please see the original and read more here