When two Air Force planes collided in 1966, they released hydrogen bombs that sprinkled plutonium all over the Spanish countryside. Victor Skaar and nearly 1,600 service members got sick after cleaning the spill.
Skaar and Yale Law School interns have now filed what could be the first nationwide class action lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims in Washington D.C., the highest court that handles disability benefits in the VA.
Meghan Brooks, a law student at Yale’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, says the VA fails to recognize that radiation exposure caused Skaar’s blood disorder and cancer.
“For the most part these veterans really feel like they’ve been forgotten. Not just by the public, but especially by the VA.”
Brooks says if the lawsuit is allowed to move forward, then it would affect everyone who has filed a disability benefits claim related to the Palomares incident. She says the VA wants to oppose the motion for class action.