The Law Offices of David P. Sheldon successfully represented an officer at the PHS Board for Corrections. The firm argued that the officer should receive years of constructive service credit for education, which is now being retroactively applied to the officer’s retirement pay multiplier. The officer stands to make hundreds of thousands in additional retirement pay in the circumstance.
Author: Becky Haugen
Law Offices of David P. Sheldon File Federal Complaint on Behalf of Wrongfully Accused Army Reserve Colonel
Press Release: Nell v. Wormuth et al.
Law Offices of David P. Sheldon PLLC
100 M St SE, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546 9575
The Law Offices of David P. Sheldon File Federal Complaint on Behalf of Wrongfully Accused Army Reserve Colonel
On December 10, 2021, the Law Offices of David P. Sheldon filed a federal complaint opening the matter of Nell v. Wormuth, et al. in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Army Reserve Colonel Karl Nell was falsely accused of whistleblower retaliation by a vindictive subordinate, who was seeking to avoid consequences for their failure to perform their duties and their attempts to sabotage Col. Nell’s reform efforts for a badly under performing unit. These false accusations were found substantiated by the Department of the Army Investigator General, despite two different investigating officers expressing deep concerns about the accuser’s truthfulness. Despite Col. Nell demonstrating the factual errors in the investigation report no less than seven times to both the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records and the Department of the Army I.G., these findings were repeatedly upheld. In its last decision, the ABCMR went so far as to hold that nonbinding commentary overrode its statutory authority to set aside IG findings.
Having been repeatedly stonewalled by the Department of Defense institutions tasked with correcting errors or injustice, Col. Nell came to the firm in April of 2021 to clear his good name of these wrongful findings. Now, the path to relief for him has begun with the filing of the federal complaint. The firm will be moving for partial summary judgment shortly, in order to set aside the ABCMR’s completely unsupported final decision, which was in blatant violation of its own foundational statute.
Law Offices of David P. Sheldon filed a motion for summary judgment in Nealy v. Braithwaite, in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
Press Release: Nealy v. Braithwaite
Law Offices of David P. Sheldon PLLC
100 M St SE, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546 9575
The Law Offices of David P. Sheldon Move for Summary Judgment on Behalf of Disabled Special Forces Veteran
On December 29, 2021, the Law Offices of David P. Sheldon filed a motion for summary judgment in Nealy v. Braithwaite, in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Navy First Class Petty Officer Sean Nealy was a sensor technician and operator, maintaining and operating optic and communication tools in electronic warfare planes supporting special forces operations all around the world. This included coordinating and directing air strikes in support of American operations, including both in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other locations. This was not remote work either, Mr. Nealy did so while over the battlefield, often at low altitudes and while facing hostile anti-aircraft fire.
In 2006 Mr. Nealy coordinated an airstrike which led to the deaths of 180 enemy combatants in Afghanistan. Following this strike, which was but the first day in a week where he would coordinate strikes which would kill 360 enemy combatants, Mr. Nealy began suffering from psychological wounds. Upon return from deployment, he began showing strong symptoms of PTSD and reported his symptoms to Navy medical personnel, resulting in a diagnosis of acute PTSD. His psychological wounds would prove to be so severe as to result in his honorable separation from the Navy on disability grounds in 2008.
However, Mr. Nealy’s service was denigrated by the Physical Evaluation Board, who saw him merely as a conscientious observer and someone who hadn’t participated in “real” combat. Though separating him from the Navy under honorable conditions, they denied him the disability retirement he was due under statute and labeled his psychological wounds “non-combat related.” In 2017 Physical Disability Board for Review doubled down on the PEB’s denigration of Mr. Nealy’s honorable service and upheld these findings. In addition, the PDBR also repeatedly violated its statutory requirements by ignoring the arguments raised by Mr. Nealy and failing to properly consider the Veterans Affairs Administration disability rating for him.
Now, Mr. Nealy is on the path to having this wrongful decision corrected and to being granted the disability retirement that he is due for the wounds he suffered while serving his county. The Firm has filed a motion for summary judgment on his behalf which will clear the PDBR’s wrongful decision and direct it to find that Mr. Nealy qualified for a disability retirement and that his wounds were combat related. Should the Firm succeed, it will also move for Mr. Nealy to be awarded the attorneys fees and expenses he was forced to endure in the process of correcting the military’s refusal to grant him what he had earned.
WPO. He was waterboarded at VMI. His tormentors still got into the military.
Cadet gets disenrollment over-turned:
“The cadet planning to commission into the Army nearly lost his chance to become an officer. After he graduated from VMI in May 2020, the U.S. Army Cadet Command initiated disenrollment proceedings against him after learning about the lawsuit in a Post article, said his lawyer, David Sheldon.”
“Eventually, after a hearing in which the VMI graduate acknowledged his wrongdoing, the Army made its ruling, Sheldon said. He could become an officer.”
Discharge Upgrade Provides Marine Positive Future
Listen:
After Discharge Upgrade, Marine Finally Finds a Reason to Live
“At the hearing, the Marine colonel in charge reads Hartnett’s record; and he says, here we have a promising young Marine until 1991. And then, the colonel asks, what happened? David Sheldon – the lawyer – says that’s the question no one had ever bothered to ask.
SHELDON: He could hear a pin drop in that room when he was describing the trauma that he had went through, and how it impacted upon him.”
National Public Radio Special Series:
Veterans And Other-Than-Honorable Discharges
Originally Aired:Heard on All Things Considered
Manker v. Del Toro Settlement
The Court certified a class in this civil action (the “Settlement Class”) defined as follows:
The Department of the Navy (“Navy”) has agreed to review the discharge of thousands of Veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), and other behavioral or mental health conditions. The Navy has also agreed to change some of its administrative procedures for individuals who apply in the future to have their discharge statuses upgraded. This agreement follows a sentiment reached in the nationwide class action lawsuit Manker v. Del Toro, 3:18-cv-000372-CSH. A federal court preliminarily approved the agreement on 12 October 2021.
The class civil action is available here:
https://www.secnav.navy.mil/mra/CORB/Pages/NDRB/Class-Settlement-Information.aspx