Nehmer

CLASS ACTION ORDER

In 1989, this Court invalidated the United States Veteran Administration’s regulation governing benefits for veterans exposed to Agent Orange during their service in Vietnam. The parties subsequently settled the remaining remedial issues, and in 1991, this Court incorporated this agreement into the final judgment. Plaintiffs contend, based on recently discovered information, that the Veterans Administration (“VA”) is construing one aspect of the parties’ settlement agreement too narrowly, and thus is improperly denying certain class members the full extent of retroactive benefits to which they are entitled. When the parties’ efforts to informally resolve this dispute proved unsuccessful, plaintiffs filed the instant motion to enforce the judgment.

The matter came on for hearing on Monday, November 16, 1998. Having carefully considered the parties’ oral and written arguments, and the entire record herein, the Court concludes, for the reasons set forth below, that plaintiffs’ motion should be granted in part and denied in part consistent with this Order.

BACKGROUND

In order to put the instant dispute in context, it is necessary to review the underlying…