Partner Casie Collignon and Associates Brian Johnson and Tanner Gattuso assisted pro bono a military veteran in having the veteran’s Department of Defense disability rating (DDR) increased from 20 percent to 90 percent – a profound boost that places the client on the military’s Permanent Disability Retired List (PDRL), allowing access to substantial benefits that include military-provided healthcare; military facilities, such as exchanges (department stores) and commissaries (grocery stores); and military retirement backpay extending back to the veteran’s discharge more than 20 years ago.
The military veteran’s discharge and DDR rating occurred in 2005; typically, the federal statute of limitations is just six years after a claim accrues. However, the team successfully surmounted the statute of limitations and filed a petition in 2021 to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to correct the client’s military records. The petition focused on the veteran’s improper medical evaluations and subsequent incorrect DDR. When the petition was denied in 2023, the firm’s team filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Administrative Procedure Act, challenging the ABCMR’s denial as arbitrary and capricious.
In 2025, that strategy garnered a remand to the ABCMR. However, the ABCMR’s initial medical advisory opinions counseled against changing the veteran’s DDR, essentially repeating the same reasoning errors as the earlier ABCMR decision. After reviewing comments from the firm’s team on the medical opinions, the ABCMR rejected those opinions and referred the client’s case to the military’s Disability Evaluation System to undergo medical board reviews.
In summer 2025, when the client received a Military Evaluation Board (MEB) evaluation that found in the veteran’s favor – only to have an informal Physical Evaluation Board (IPEB) set aside the MEB findings and deny the veteran’s claims, using substantially the same erroneous reasoning used in the first ABCMR decision.
Finally, in fall 2025, the client appealed the IPEB’s denial to a formal Physical Evaluation Board (FPEB). Upon review of the written appeal in early 2026, the FPEB offered an informal reconsideration finding the veteran warranted a 90% DDR and placement on the PDRL. Today, the client serves in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, helping the VA provide care to veterans — a true testament of tenacity and character.
