Line-of-Duty Benefits Letter Requirement Shuts Out Certain Navy, Marine Corps Reservists from Disability Benefits, Lawsuit Says

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges the United States Navy and Marine Corps refuse to refer certain reservists not presently on active duty orders into the duty-related path to evaluate their eligibility for disability benefits without a line-of-duty benefits letter. 

The 37-page complaint relays that although Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1332.18 requires each branch of the armed forces to refer all eligible active and reserve duty service members into the duty-related path of the Disability Evaluation System (DES), the rule does not dictate a singular method with which the service branches should evaluate the eligibility criteria for that path. Placement on the duty-related path, as opposed to the non-duty-related path, is the only way for an active- or reserve-duty service member to receive medical retirement or medical separation, along with accompanying disability benefits, the lawsuit states. 

The plaintiffs allege that the Navy and Marine Corp wrongfully refuse to place reservists not presently on active duty orders into the duty-related path unless they have a line-of-duty benefits letter. The case contends that the Navy uses the absence of a line-of-duty benefits letter as “a de facto determination” that a reservist is ineligible for referral to the DES’s duty-related path and therefore ineligible for medical separation or retirement and the accompanying benefits. 

The suit alleges that although the Navy is required to investigate the circumstances of a reservist’s injury to formally determine whether it was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, the Navy declines to do so without a line-of-duty benefits letter. Instead, the Navy, without considering whether a reservist has satisfied the referral criteria in DoDI 1332.18 for duty-related processing through the DES, processes reservists separated from the military due to injury—and without a line-of-duty-benefits letter—through the “non-duty-related” Medical Retention Review (MRR) process.

“The Navy’s use of the MRR process means that Plaintiffs and Class members were separated without any assessment of whether they were eligible for duty-related DES processing, eliminating the one path for them to obtain disability benefits,” the lawsuit summarizes. 

Compounding the problem, the lawsuit continues, is that the Navy has neither a process by which reservists can obtain line-of-duty benefits letters nor considers whether a reservist should receive such a letter. 

The case states that the DES is a means to determine whether an active- or reserve-duty service member can continue their military service. If an individual can no longer serve because of injuries incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, the DES affords a pathway for the person to obtain the benefits to which they’re entitled. Service members whose injuries did not occur in the line of duty are not eligible for this path, the suit states. 

The implementing regulations of each branch of the armed forces designate the mechanisms that can be used to identify which service members should be sent for duty-related DES processing, the complaint continues. For the Navy and Marine Corps, these mechanisms include investigating the circumstances of an injury and issuing formal determinations that resolve whether an injury was incurred or aggravated during duty, the suit says. 

Regardless of what process a branch of the armed services uses to evaluate a service member’s DES eligibility, they must ensure that those who are eligible are put on the duty-related path, the lawsuit says. This means, according to the suit, that each branch of the armed forces must make a determination as to whether a person’s injuries satisfy DoDI 1332.18 criteria for a duty-related referral. 

The lawsuit contends that the Navy’s line-of-duty benefits letter requirement “improperly places the burden on Reservists, not the Navy,” to ensure that they are processed correctly through DES. 

The proposed class action looks to represent all veterans of the United States Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve who were separated from the military through the Navy’s medical retention review process as “not physically qualified” without a line-of-duty benefits letter or a finding that they did not meet the eligibility criteria in DoDI 1332.18 for duty-related processing in the Disability Evaluation System.

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