The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the case of an Army reservist who says he was forced to resign from his job as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety due to lung damage he suffered from “burn pits” near a military base where he once was stationed in Iraq.
The case — Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety — raises the legal question of whether the Lone Star State is immune from LeRoy Torres’s lawsuit based on “sovereign immunity,” Law&Crime reported.
Texas DPS Trooper Torres had been a member of the U.S. Army Reserves for 18 years when he was activated and deployed to Iraq in 2007.
While on active duty in Iraq, the Army captain was exposed to toxic waste. According to Torres’s petition to SCOTUS:
“While deployed, Petitioner, like thousands of fellow soldiers serving in Iraq, suffered lung damage after being exposed to toxic fumes emanating from the now-infamous “burn pits.” These huge open-air pits smoldered 24 hours a day on many military bases, spouting thick, black smoke as they burned everything from trash, to ammunition, to medicine, to human waste.”
A year after Torres’s deployment, he was honorably discharged from the Army and sought to resume his work as a Texas state trooper.
However, Torres developed constrictive bronchiolitis due to the conditions he was subject to around the burn pits. According to his petition, it is “a devastating respiratory condition that causes narrowing of the airways and difficulty breathing.”
Hence, Torres was unable to continue working as a state trooper and sought a reassignment within the organization.
Texas DPS denied his request and he was given a choice to report for duty as a state trooper or face termination, according to Law&Crime.
As a result, Torres chose to resign. Since then, he and his wife Rosie Lopez-Torres founded the nonprofit organization Burn Pits 360. They now work as advocates for service members injured by toxic burn pits.
After Torres’s forced resignation, he filed a lawsuit against the Texas DPS in state court, alleging discrimination based on his military service. He sought more than $5 million in damages.
The lawsuit is based on the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). The law makes it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of military service.
The trial court in Texas sided with Torres. However, a state appellate court sided with Texas DPS and dismissed the lawsuit.
The Texas Supreme Court declined intervention, leaving the appellate court’s dismissal in place.
Torres appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which will now consider the limits of sovereign immunity in such matters.
In his petition to SCOTUS, Torres argues that unless the justices step in to overturn the Texas court’s dismissal, “USERRA’s protections will die by a thousand cuts and that service members who work for state governments will suffer, uncertain whether they can rely on USERRA’s protections.”
In contrast, Texas argues that the justices should not use the Torres case as a vehicle to subject non-consenting states to private lawsuits.
Brian J. Lawler, a lawyer who is representing Torres, provided a statement to Law&Crime on Wednesday.
“We are thrilled that the Supreme Court has taken up this important issue, which is vital to protecting those who serve this country in the military from discrimination upon their return to civilian employment. State employers cannot be immune from discriminatory conduct against our servicemen and women, and this is the next step to ensuring they are held to the same standard as other employers.”
No argument date before the U.S. Supreme Court has yet been set for the case.
