On December 11, 2008, the VVA and VMW filed their combined opposition to the VA's motion to dismiss its complaint and reply in further support of its motion for a preliminary injunction. Such injunction would order the VA to adjudicate initial claims for disability benefits in 90 days and noticed appeals of those decisions within 180 days, and require equitable relief in the form of monetary payments equivalent to those paid to a veteran with a 30% disability rating (roughly $356 per month for a veteran without dependents) to any veteran whose claim is not adjudicated within that timeframe.

In its submission to the Court, the VVA and VMW highlight the often conflicting and irreconcilable positions taken by the VA in its legal papers, and explain why the arguments raised by the VA neither support dismissal of the lawsuit nor denial of the urgent relief that the VVA and VMW seek. In particular, the VVA and VMW note the following:

• The VVA and VMW, by this lawsuit, are attempting to enforce Congress' express directive to the VA to handle veterans disability claims expeditiously. The VA's challenge to the VVA's and VMW's rights to seek judicial review of the VA's extraordinary delays in adjudicating disability claims, on the basis that oversight should be left to Congress, is therefore without merit.
• The VA has failed to distance itself (because it cannot do so) from the factual findings of a California federal court that recently examined, among other things, delays in the VA's disability claims process, and which found that it takes approximately 4.4 years, on average, for a veteran to adjudicate a benefits claim through a decision of the Board of Veterans Appeals. The VA's attempts in its legal papers to deflect responsibility for these extraordinary delays on the veterans themselves, and the Veterans Service Organizations that assist them to secure their rightful benefits, is shameful.
• Contrary to the VA's claim, The VVA and VMW have legal standing to bring these claims on behalf of their aggrieved members, and the Court has jurisdiction to hear them. VVA and VMW members have been directly impacted by the VA's disability benefits determination delays; the United States has waived any bar to suit against it in federal courts in circumstances where relief of the type sought by this lawsuit is requested; and federal statutes do not lock veterans groups out of federal courts, which are empowered to review the statutory and Constitutional claims raised in this lawsuit.
• The preliminary injunction that the VVA and VMW seeks ought to be granted because:
  1. Congressional intent, as expressed via statute and the history leading to its enactment, supports prompt resolution of veterans disability claims;
  2. The VA has not raised sound, legally cognizable arguments that suggest that the VVA and VMW are not likely to succeed on the merits of their claims, and so the urgent relief requested should be granted now, so as to prevent the further irreparable harm that veterans enduring long waits for benefits determinations are suffering each and every day;
  3. The Court has the legal authority to do it;
  4. An injunction that forces the VA to do its job in the expeditious manner Congress intended will not substantially burden it;
  5. The public interest weighs heavily in favor of meeting our statutory and moral obligations to disabled veterans. Indeed, it was shocking that, in its legal submission, the VA, represented by the Justice Department, had argued that the public interest actually supports the denial, rather than grant, of the urgent relief that the VVA and VMW seek because Congress, after careful balancing, has determined that the VAÕs system is simply the one with which disabled veterans must take as-is -- in essence that the VA should not be held accountable for its failures by the court.
• Contrary to the VA's argument, if it cannot meet the reasonable 90/180 day time frames that the VVA and VMW request the Court impose, and the VA is therefore required by the Court to award equitable relief in the form of monetary payments to applicants, any financial or other impact to the VA is minimal. After all, nearly 9 out of 10 veterans who apply for disability benefits ultimately receive some award. Equitable relief means that they will simply begin to receive a portion of their benefits now, rather than retroactively, when they are often too late to do maximum good. Surely, the VA in good conscience cannot assert that eliminating the "float" that the VA currently enjoys by unreasonably delaying benefits payments due our disabled veterans creates any hardship to the VA. Moreover, awarding veterans the benefits that they need now should put less of a strain on those at the VA who are providing ancillary services to veterans -- services that are less likely to be as urgent or necessary to a financially stable veteran.

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