For 35 years, the VA used an automated system that quietly closed thousands of veterans’ disability appeals without ever sending notice. The Freund v. Collins federal class action just exposed it. If you filed a Form 9 and never heard back, your case deserves a closer look.
Freund v. Collins · Case No. 21-4168
Find out if your appeal is part of the Freund class. No fee unless we win.
Tens of thousands of veterans waited years for a decision that was never coming. The VA closed their appeals in silence. We’ve spent decades fighting for these veterans — and now we’re going to make sure none of them get left behind by this settlement.
Chris Stevens Managing Veterans Disability Attorney, Deuterman Law Group
Reach us 24/7 at 866-373-1130 or submit your information online — whichever is easier.
Tell us what happened with your VA appeal. Our team will listen carefully and ask the right questions.
We’ll tell you whether your case fits the Freund class and what your options are if it does.
For more than three decades, the VA relied on an internal tracking system called VACOLS to manage legacy disability appeals. VACOLS ran a monthly automated process: if its records did not reflect a timely-filed Substantive Appeal for a given case, the system closed the appeal on the spot.
But VACOLS was only as reliable as the data fed into it. The VA’s own records show that incoming documents sat in a processing queue for an average of 43 days before being logged. During that gap, VACOLS treated a filed-but-unlogged Form 9 as if it didn’t exist — and closed the appeal automatically.
Veterans received no notification that their appeals had been shut down. Most continued to believe their cases were pending Board review, unaware that the VA had already closed the file years earlier.
You may be a Freund class member if all of the following are true. Surviving spouses, children, and dependents may also qualify on behalf of a veteran who has passed away.
Not sure? That’s normal. Many of these appeals are 10–30 years old. We’ll work with you to pull your VA records and tell you definitively.
If you’ve spent years wondering what happened to your appeal, you’re not alone — tens of thousands of veterans are in the same position. The Freund settlement finally gives you a path to answers, but that path has an expiration date. Veterans whose files aren’t in the VA’s identified groups must come forward within one year of court approval. After that, this settlement can’t help you. A five-minute conversation with our team can tell you whether you need to act — and how much time you have.
No fee unless we win · 100% confidential
We’ll fight for the compensation you deserve.
$510M+
Recovered for injured & disabled clients
24K+
Clients served
$1.5M+
Reinvested into our local community
Freund cases are not ordinary VA appeals. Three things make experienced representation especially important.
The Deuterman Law Group is a team of attorneys, paralegals, and staff forming a circle of expertise and support—with you at its center.
The Team Approach
Your Attorney
Paralegal
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Intake Specialist
Your attorney’s primary objective is to fiercely advocate for your rights, ensuring fair compensation for your physical, emotional, and financial damages. Our attorneys have a true passion for personal injury litigation, backed by exceptional communication skills and a commitment to delivering justice for injured individuals from all walks of life.
Schedule a FREE ConsultationThe paralegal provides valuable administrative support for your attorney. They draft legal documents, conduct research, gather evidence, and prepare exhibits for trial.
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Free Case ReviewThe intake specialist serves as your first point of contact with the firm. They manage your onboarding process and conduct your intake interview.
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Managing Veterans Disability Attorney
Senior Veterans Disability Attorney
Veterans Disability Attorney
Senior Veterans Disability Attorney
Veterans Disability Attorney
Veterans Disability Attorney
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You may be a class member if your VA disability appeal file in VACOLS was closed between December 12, 1990 and February 6, 2025 because the system did not show a timely-filed Substantive Appeal — and your case is still closed today. Surviving spouses, children, and other eligible substitute claimants of a deceased veteran may also qualify.
A Substantive Appeal is a filing under the VA’s legacy appeals system — the form most veterans called a “VA Form 9.” It was filed in response to a Statement of the Case to formally request review by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. It had to be filed within one year of the original VA decision OR within 60 days of the Statement of the Case, whichever was later.
The legacy system governed VA appeals where the initial decision was issued before February 19, 2019. The Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) system governs decisions issued on or after that date. Freund only applies to legacy-system appeals.
No. If the court approves the settlement, you are automatically a class member if you meet the class definition. However, if your file is not in the VA’s identified 28,258 audit group or 64,599 notice group, you must come forward within one year of final court approval to request a review. If you do nothing in that case, your right to use the settlement to reactivate your appeal may be gone.
Surviving spouses, dependent children, and other eligible parties can substitute in as the claimant and pursue the reactivated appeal. This is true even if the veteran died years ago.
Three reasons: Many appeals are 10–30 years old and require experienced records review. If the original veteran has passed away, substitution adds procedural complexity. The settlement creates new rules about which bucket your file falls into and what response is required.
The initial case review is free. If we take your case, we work on a contingency basis — which means you pay nothing unless we recover benefits for you.
Yes. We represent veterans nationwide in their VA disability matters. The VA appeals process is federal, not state-based, and we handle these cases by phone, email, and video. Our attorneys are VA-accredited.
No. Class counsel in Freund v. Collins is John D. Niles of Carpenter Chartered. The Deuterman Law Group is a VA-accredited disability law firm that represents individual veterans whose cases may be affected by the Freund settlement.
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