CLASS-ACTION COMBAT-RELATED SPECIAL COMPENSATION (CRSC) LAWSUIT REACHES THE SUPREME COURT
Serving in the military includes sacrifice and commitment, and so when service members get hurt during combat, they deserve the full support and care that they need after they leave the military.
However, there are some cases where certain rules can get in the way, and they might not receive the support and care that they are entitled to.
Simon Soto, a Marine Corps Veteran, was denied money that he earned through the CRSC because of the injuries they sustained while serving the country.
What Is Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC)?
A lot of people aren’t familiar with this, but CRSC is extra money that is given to some Veterans.
This money is meant for those who got hurt while serving and had to leave the military because of the injuries they got. The main purpose of the compensation is to have a replacement for the retirement money that they are going to lose when they also get disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Veterans get VA disability pay, and their regular military retirement pay can usually be reduced, so the CRSC helps Veterans by giving them extra, tax-free payments. It’s also a way to say “thank you” to those who were hurt while fighting for the country.
However, there are rules about who only gets CRSC, how much they should receive, and how far back they can be paid.
Simon Soto and His Case
Simon Soto has served in the US Marine Corps and worked in mortuary affairs, where he helped recover and care for the remains of those who died in combat.
Soto has served two tours in Iraq, and because of everything he experienced, it was a difficult and emotional job for him, and he developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After his service, he medically retired from the Marines in 2006 because he was struggling mentally.
In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs gave him a disability rating for his PTSD, and years later, he applied for combat-related special compensation. The Navy had approved his CRSC application, but they only gave him payments going back to 2010, and not all the way back to when he was first eligible for the CRSC as they said that the six-year rule under the Barring Act was implemented on CRSC as well, so this situation had prevented him from not getting more back pay.
Of course, Soto and his lawyers think that it was unfair, so they filed the case in 2017, as Soto should have been paid back to 2008 when Congress allowed combat-injured Veterans with fewer than 20 years of service to get CRSC.
"Whether thousands of combat Veterans now and into the future lose all or part of the special compensation they earned through service to and sacrifice for our nation is an exceptionally important question that merits this court's review," wrote Soto's attorneys in their petition to the Supreme Court filed last September.
So now, Simon Soto isn’t just fighting for himself, but he worked with lawyers from the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to represent all Veterans who were in the same position as him.
Why Veterans Are Fighting the Six-Year Rule
The rule that is getting in the way in this case is the Barring Act, as it says that if a Veteran wants to claim money they are owed, they have to do it within six years, and if they wait longer, they can only get payments going back six years.
The Department of Defense (DOD) says that this six-year rule is also applied to the CRSC because they believe that if Veterans don’t ask for their CRSC within those years, they are missing out on the money they earned.
However, Simon Soto and his lawyers don’t agree to this, as they argue that CRSC is different from other kinds of pay, in which they believe that CRSC is not controlled by the Barring Act as it is meant to fix a special situation – the combat injuries that makes them leave military and have an early retirement. They believe that DOD’s rule wrongly takes away the money that Veterans deserve.
Soto’s team believes that many Veterans were wrongly limited by this six-year rule and lost thousands of dollars just like that, so they decided to bring a class-action lawsuit to court, hoping that they can change the rule not only for Soto but for 9,000 other Veterans as well.
This Case Could Help Thousands of Veterans
Initially, the lower court agreed with Soto and his team, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas said that the Department of Defense was wrong to apply the six-year limit to CRSC payments.
As a result, they ordered the government to pay eligible Veterans extra money if the amount they were owed was $10,000 or less.
However, the Federal Circuit Court didn’t agree to this, so that meant Soto and other Veterans lost their case. But, they pursued the case and took this fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
So, what's exactly at stake?
If the Court rules against Simon Soto, it could shut out thousands of other Veterans whose claims were late—but valid. If it rules for him, it will open a path for those who were unaware or couldn't act in time. According to attorney David Sheldon, “this isn’t just about one Marine. It’s about whether the legal system honors the sacrifices made by all service members and whether the clock should ever run out on justice.”
So now, it is upon the Supreme Court for the decision, and if Soto and the Veterans win, this could mean that thousands of medically retired service members will get extra CRSC, and they could finally get what they deserve.
Read next:
- 8 Great Military Retirement Benefits to Get Your Post-Military Life Started Right
- Project 2025 and VA Disability Benefits: What Changes Are Coming?
- What to Expect from the Military Base Toxic Exposure Veterans Disability Benefits Screening
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