Fighting For Connecticut’s Troubled Warriors
New clinic highlights need for veterans’ legal assistance
By CHRISTIAN NOLAN
For many veterans, the toughest battles are those they fight upon returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have problems interacting with others, holding a steady job, maintaining a relationship or even keeping a roof overhead. A root of the problem is often post-traumatic stress disorder.
Hard-luck tales are heard daily at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Errera Community Care Center in West Haven. There, vets receive employment services, housing assistance and mental health counseling that helps get them on the road to recovery.
But one service that’s often been lacking is legal help. That’s all changing. About six weeks ago, the newly formed Connecticut Veterans Legal Center set up shop at the facility. In short order, it’s taken on about 20 new cases.
“Homeless veterans have been hard for legal services to reach,” Margaret Middleton, the clinic’s only full-time attorney, said in an interview last week as Veterans Day approached. “We go to them in a place they’re already comfortable.”
She said that “the hope is by starting the project now, Connecticut will be out in front of legal issues military veterans face. We’re hoping to have an infrastructure set up so that legal issues aren’t one of the barriers they face when integrating back into society.”
Longtime attorney Howard Udell had been volunteering at the Errera Center for the past two years. One day Middleton, a 2008 law school graduate, walked in the door and told Udell: “I want to be you.” She shadowed Udell for the rest of the day and even helped interview possible clients. “The veterans just adore her,” Udell said of Middleton.
Middleton next successfully applied for grant money with Yale Law School’s Initiative for Public Interest Law. “Members of the selection committee were especially enthusiastic about supporting a project that provided legal assistance to veterans since veterans are not the first group that comes to mind when you think of people in need of legal assistance,” said Nic Riley, a Yale Law School student and committee member.
Riley said the Initiative for Public Interest Law receives grant applications from around the country and committee members were pleased “to be able to fund something that will make a real difference closer to home.”
Housing Case
Legal clinics, pro bono initiatives and law school volunteer efforts designed to assist low-income veterans have sprung up across the country in recent years, though not fast enough to help all the former military personnel in need of assistance. For example, a national project called Lawyers Serving Warriors states on its web site that “we have hit full capacity. Our staff has so much work to do on the cases we are currently working on that, at this time, we cannot take any new requests for free legal services.”
Many efforts focus primarily on helping veterans get the government benefits to which they are entitled. Others are more like the West Haven clinic in that they provide a wide range of assistance. So far, Middleton said the legal issues she’s encountered have “run the gamut” from criminal and family law to employment and housing matters.
Late last month, the legal center won its first case in court, reaching a favorable decision in a housing matter. The landlord of a female veteran had tried evicting her for failing to pay the rent. But as it turned out, the West Haven Housing Authority had paid the rent while she was in the hospital for two months.
“I'm proud that we were able to help this veteran stay in her apartment,” Middleton said. “It is one small victory, but hopefully the first of many successful outcomes the CVLC will achieve.”
Udell, who continues to volunteer at the clinic, said the types of legal issues one might not directly associate with veterans are becoming more prevalent, especially credit and tax problems and bankruptcy.
He recalled one client who was the victim of identity theft. Someone in California was using the woman’s Social Security number at work and wasn’t paying taxes, so the Internal Revenue Service came after the woman vet. With Udell’s help, the IRS eventually dropped their charges against the woman.
Udell said eviction problems are prevalent. He said many clients, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have trouble communicating with the landlords. Sometimes that causes the problems to escalate.
But he said the worst problem for those with the stress disorder is that it disrupts their family life. He said about 50 percent of the veterans with PTSD end up divorced within a year’s time. Then their problems really compound.
For instance, one veteran was broke after his pension had been reduced. That’s because records showed that he had a working spouse. But the reality was he had not seen his wife in three years. Udell asked the veteran to consider a divorce and the man and his now ex-wife agreed. Now the man gets a full pension.
Another young man returned home from the war and didn’t work or socialize. Instead, he stayed in his bedroom all day looking at pornography. After his parents kicked him out, he began to go to the Errera Center for meals. Eventually, staff members were able to find him a low-level custodian job at a nearby place of worship. But the young man soon got into trouble for breaking into the church and stealing money.
Udell talked the clergyman into sending a letter to the judge that argued against jail time and in favor of a second chance. The judge granted both requests. Udell said another church worker told him the young man was well-liked and that someone would have loaned him money if he had just asked for it. “It was the kind of [result] that makes you feel so good,” said Udell. “He would’ve gone to jail even though it was a first offense.”
While people think of veterans as being mostly men, Udell said he has many women among his clients. “They have all the same kinds of issues -- credit, debt, bankruptcy, matrimonial. Husbands with no money, spouses bleeding them,” he said.
To be sure, Udell spends a good deal of time listening to veterans talk about problems for which there is no legal remedy. One might think they would be upset when Udell announces that there’s nothing he can do. But that’s not the case.
“They thank me as if I had helped them,” said Udell. Social workers tell him that the veterans are happy “because someone listened to them and treated them with dignity and took the time to hear their problem.”
Udell, a former chief legal officer for Purdue Pharma, said he often figured he would help out at a legal services organization during retirement, but he’s settled on helping veterans. It’s a choice that he hopes more lawyers make when deciding on pro bono work.
Francis Brady, the Connecticut Bar Association president, said the new veterans’ legal clinic is already part of the CBA’s Pro Bono Network and that more help should be on the way. Udell especially needs those who can help with bankruptcy and tax problems.
“I find that it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my career that goes back over 40 years,” said Udell. “I’m practicing law in areas I haven’t in many years. They’re terrific clients and appreciate everything you do for them.”•
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