A Texas jury has awarded $2.49 million to an Army reservist who lost his job as a Texas state trooper when he developed a debilitating illness caused by exposure to burn pits while serving overseas.
Former Army Capt. Le Roy Torres, who together with his wife Rosie led a decade-long fight for recognition of burn pits as a health risk and landmark legislation to provide benefits for sickened veterans, won a lawsuit Friday against the state of Texas for violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act.
Torres first filed a lawsuit in 2017 charging that the state denied his request to remain on the force in an administrative capacity — an accommodation for his service-related disability. Instead, he said, he was forced to retire and then denied a disability retirement pension from the state.
The Texas Department of Public Safety argued that it couldn’t be sued in the case without giving consent to being sued — permission that is granted only by the state legislature.