For the third time in two years, Stone Rose Law is leading the way on holding the VA accountable for its lawlessness. In a lawsuit filed with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Stone Rose Law’s Director of Military, Veterans, and Firearms Law joined with other advocates to sue the Department of Veterans Affairs for its most recent, illegal, and anti-veteran rule change.
As many know, recently the VA—without allowing notice and comment—changed the rules as to how veterans’ disabilities are evaluated. Since the landmark case of Jones v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 56 (2012), VA has been prohibited from rating veterans on how their medications mitigate their disabilities unless the rating schedule specifically contemplated the “ameliorative” effects of medication. This principle continued in McCarrol v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 267 (2016), where the VA was once again reminded that they must discount the ameliorative effects of medication unless the rating schedule specifically contemplated those effects. And in Ingram v. Collins, 38 Vet. App. 130 (2025), the Court continued to apply this common sense rule.
In response, the Secretary rushed to implement an interim final rule without the opportunity for notice-and-comment by the public. As justification, the Secretary states that Ingram created an emergency, yet that justification falls flat when considering the law has been clear since 2012 on this point.
Stone Rose Law, however, will not stand idly by while the VA implements anti-veteran rules that place Veterans’ financial and healthcare interests in conflict. As such, we have filed a challenge in the Federal Circuit, represented by Paul Jennings at MilVet Law Firm and joined by Wesley McCauley with United Veterans Disability, seeking to invalidate this ill-conceived rule before it can cause further harm to Veterans.
Derek Debus, a Marine Infantry Veteran and Director of Military and Veterans Law at Stone Rose Law, had this to say: “Our team will never stop fighting for those who served and will never go quietly into the dark night when the VA fights to harm Veterans. I am proud to work with these dedicated professionals who fight for our veterans every day.”
