PRESS RELEASE #41
Murphy Facing Jail Again, Van Luven to Close Defense Fund
By Staff Writer: Rick Townsend
May 17, 2006
Calvin Murphy, Dale Van Luven and Jere Beery have several things in common. First, they are all Vietnam combat disabled veterans receiving VA disability compensation. Second, they have all gone through a painful divorce. Third, they were all ordered to pay alimony with their veteran’s disability compensation.
On February 13th of this year, Vietnam combat disabled veteran Calvin Murphy of Bear Lake, Michigan was sentenced to 90 days in jail for contempt of court. Murphy had refused to honor a court order which used his VA and Social Security Disability Insurance to pay alimony. Circuit Court Judge James M. Batzer claimed VA and SSDI are divisible income and Murphy must use this money to pay spousal support or go to jail. The Murphy’s have no minor children. “I spent 4 days in jail before a temporary settlement was agreed on,” Murphy told the Firebase Network. “Now, I go back to court on the 31st of July facing jail once more,” Murphy added.
Calvin Murphy says he will not agree to a division of his veteran’s disability benefits which he earned in the service to his country. “And my wife is already collecting SSDI, if I agree to the court order, she will be receiving half of my SSDI as well,” Murphy said. “Disability benefits belong solely to the disabled person they were awarded to. These benefits should never be considered an asset or awarded to a third party under any circumstances, much less state divorce court. And USC, Title 38 states that very clearly,” Murphy stated.
Murphy is not the first to go to jail over this issue. In 2003, disabled Vietnam combat veteran Dale Van Luven of Hermitage, Tennessee was sentenced to 180 days in jail in for contempt of court and failure to pay alimony with his VA disability compensation and SSDI. Van Luven publicly accused Circuit Court Judge Muriel Robinson of violating federal laws that protect his veteran’s benefits. Van Luven served another 30 days in jail in 2004 for the exact same charge, but, this time not without incident. Van Luven was denied his prescribed seizure medication for nearly two weeks and roughed up by an over zealous jailer. “Martha Steward spent less time in jail for felony insider trading,” Van Luven said.
In 2003, Vietnam combat disabled veteran, Jere Beery, then living in Newnan, Georgia, was ordered to pay his ex-wife $24,000 in alimony directly from his monthly VA Disability Compensation check. According to Beery, Circuit Court Judge Alan Keeble violated Federal Laws which protects his veteran’s benefits. U.S. Code, Title 38, section 5301(a), states in part: Nonassignability and exempt status of benefits Payments of benefits due or to become due under any law administered by the Secretary shall not be assignable except to the extent specifically authorized by law, and such payments made to, or on account of, a beneficiary shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claim of creditors, and shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt by the beneficiary. The Beery case was quietly and conveniently resolved by unknown sources who persuaded the former Mrs. Beery to withdraw her claim to the $24,000 alimony judgement. In short, no claim, no foul, Beery’s case is dead.
However, Murphy and Van Luven are still facing jail over this issue. Since the Van Luven final divorce decree, his VA disability rating has been dramatically reduced and his VA rating changed. The original amount used by the judge to calculate Van Luven’s ability to pay alimony has drastically decreased. “I couldn’t pay the money if I wanted to,” Van Luven said. “So, I guess I will go back to debtors prison if need be,” He added.
Calvin Murphy feels exactly the same way. Murphy is preparing for the worst. On the 31st of July, Murphy in planning to refuse to pay the court order and go back to jail if his VA and SSDI are calculated into the divorce settlement equation as a divisible asset. “I’m standing my ground on this matter. If I am guilty of anything, I’m guilty of protecting what I, and many other disabled veterans earned with service to our country,” Murphy stated.
Last month Calvin Murphy and Jere Beery took the issue to Washington, DC on April 25th. Murphy was a guest speaker at the Operation Firing For Effect rally held on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building and he shared his story with some 1200 attendees. Jere Beery brought the issue up again at a public meeting in the Cannon building the next day. Deputy Security of the Department of Veterans Affairs, William McLemore, advised Mr. Beery that the VA could not get involved in civil matters at the state level. The Department of Veterans Affairs is not a law enforcement agency. Therefore, if Beery felt the law had been broken, he needed to hire an attorney to prove it. “In other words, it is up to me to prove United States Code, Title 38 is an enforceable Code? That makes no sense whatsoever,” Beery said.
Murphy, Van Luven, and Beery are hoping a law firm will donate their services for a class action suit on behalf of disabled Americans suffering from the same abuse. “We are attempting to protect our fellow disabled from falling victim to scams that take away their personal compensation and award them to an able body third person. And that is exactly what this is, ‘a scam’ by attorneys and judges to steal from the disabled,” Van Luven said.
All three men have been trying to find a legal crusader for justice in the form of a Pro-Bono attorney. In 2004, Jere Beery setup a defense fund for Van Luven, in hopes of retaining an attorney to challenge what is happening to our disabled Americans in state divorce courts across the country. “The fund hasn’t received any donations in many months and the total is frozen at $1169.69. Unless we find an attorney soon, Dale and I are seriously considering closing the account and returning the money to the donors,” Beery stated. “I will be contacting donors within the next few weeks,” Beery added.
In a related story, the Veterans Commission is currently reevaluating the criteria for veterans collecting both VA disability compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance. It would appear that the legal disabled citizens of this country are under attack at many levels of our society.
For the full story, visit this link;
http://jerebeery.com/press_releases_page.htm