During the past decade, the
Department of Veterans Affairs has received many inquiries regarding the Agent
Orange Settlement Fund. That Fund, created as a result of a private class
action lawsuit settlement, involved neither VA nor any other executive branch
agency of the Federal government.
The Settlement Fund closed in 1997. Below is a
brief history.
The Agent Orange Settlement Fund was created by the
resolution of the Agent Orange Product Liability Litigation a class
action lawsuit brought by Vietnam veterans and their families regarding
injuries allegedly incurred as a result of the exposure of Vietnam veterans to
chemical herbicides used during the Vietnam war. The suit was brought against
the major manufacturers of these herbicides. The class action case was settled
out-of-court in 1984 for $180 million dollars, reportedly the largest
settlement of its kind at that time.
The Settlement Fund was
distributed to class members in accordance with a distribution plan established
by United States District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who presided over the
litigation and the settlement. Because the plaintiff class was so large (an
estimated 10 million people), the Fund was distributed to class members in the
United States through two separate programs designed to provide maximum
benefits to Vietnam veterans and their families most in need of assistance:
- a Payment Program, which provided cash compensation to
totally-disabled veterans and survivors of deceased veterans; and
- a Class Assistance Program, which provided funds for social
services organizations and networks for the purpose of establishing and
maintaining programs for the benefit of the class as a whole.
This plan for distributing the Settlement Fund was
unprecedented: it employed mechanisms not previously adopted in class action
lawsuits in order to maximize benefits to class members and to respond the
complex needs expressed by the class during a series of Fairness
Hearings held in six different locations in the country.
Applications for he Payment Program had to be submitted prior to December 31,
1994. To be eligible for compensation under the Payment Program, Vietnam
veterans or their survivors had to establish the following:
- that the veteran served in Vietnam as a member of the Armed
Forces between 1961 and 1972 (the period during which Agent Orange was used in
Vietnam);
- that the applicant was either a totally-disabled Vietnam
veteran or the survivor of a deceased Vietnam veteran;
- that based upon the circumstances of the veterans
service (including location of service and particular experiences during
service), the veteran met a test of probable exposure to
herbicides;
- that death or disability was not caused by a traumatic or
accidental occurrence; and
- that death or disability occurred before December 31,
1994.
The Payment Program operated over a period of 6 ½
years, beginning, after appeals, in 1988 and concluding in 1994. During its
operation, the Settlement Fund distributed a total of $197 million in cash
payments to members of the class in the United States. Of the 105,000 claims
received by the Payment Program, approximately 52,000 Vietnam veterans or their
survivors received cash payments which averaged about $3,800 each.
The
other part of the Settlement Fund, the Class Assistance Program, was intended
by the distribution plan to function as a foundation. Between 1989 and 1996 it
distributed, through a series of Requests for Proposal, $74 million to 83
social services organizations throughout the United States. These agencies,
which ranged from disability and veterans service organizations to
community-based not-for-profits, provided counseling, advocacy, medical and
case-management services. During this period, these organizations assisted over
239,000 Vietnam veterans and their families.
On September 27, 1997,
the District Court ordered the Fund closed, its assets having been fully
distributed.