WASHINGTON, DC – Good news! After a 21 month delay, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request over the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) failure to provide adequate health care services to female veterans, filed on August 4, 2014 by the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), has finally been fulfilled by the VA.
Because the VA did not respond to the initial FOIA request, NVLSP and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC) filed a federal FOIA lawsuit on January 27, 2016 against the VA. The lawsuit challenged the VA’s complete failure to turn over information and documents about inadequate health care services female veterans receive from the VA’s Veterans’ Health Administration. Federal law required the VA to respond within 20 days of the initial FOIA request NVLSP filed on August 4, 2014.
Because the VA has now turned over the documents that NVLSP requested, NVLSP and WLC have agreed to settle their FOIA lawsuit against the VA. We are in the process of reviewing more than 1,300 pages of documents that the VA turned over as part of an investigation into women’s health services at the VA.
Media Contacts:
For NVLSP: Ami Neiberger-Miller, (703) 887-4877, [email protected]
For WLC: Peter Romer-Friedman (718) 938-6132, [email protected]
ABOUT NVLSP: The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) is an independent, nonprofit veterans service organization that has served active duty military personnel and veterans since 1980. NVLSP strives to ensure that our nation honors its commitment to its 22 million veterans and active duty personnel by ensuring they have the federal benefits they have earned through their service to our country. NVSLP offers training for attorneys and other advocates, connects veterans and active duty personnel with pro bono legal help when seeking disability benefits, publishes the nation’s definitive guide on veteran benefits, and represents and litigates for veterans and their families before the VA, military discharge review agencies and federal courts. For more information, see www.nvlsp.org.
ABOUT THE WASHINGTON LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE: The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs was established in 1968 to provide pro bono legal services to address issues of discrimination and entrenched poverty in the Washington, DC region. Since then, it has successfully handled thousands of civil rights cases on behalf of individuals and groups in the areas of equal employment opportunity, fair housing, public accommodations, veterans’ rights, immigrant rights, disability rights, public education, and prisoners’ rights. For more information, see www.washlaw.org