A Connecticut federal judge on Thursday certified a proposed class action from tens of thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans who say they were discharged for reasons related to their service-connected mental health problems—and then couldn’t seek treatment at the VA because their discharges were other than honorable.
The Associated Press reported Friday that a New Haven, Connecticut, federal judge has certified a class that could include thousands of former sailors and Marines who received what they say were unfair “other-than-honorable” discharges because of behaviors connected to a service-acquired mental health problem. They’re joined as plaintiffs by the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress. Lead plaintiff Tyson Manker of Jacksonville, Illinois, said he was discharged from the Marines after a single incident of illegal drug use connected to post-traumatic stress disorder.