Attorneys in Pitts & Associates are licensed to practice before the U.S. & Texas Supreme Courts, other U.S. and TX. Courts, & are not certified as specialists by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  Attorney Gary Pitts also served 12 years in the Army National Guard, Field Artillery (PVT/E1 to CPT/03).
Last Update: October 05, 2001

Click: Excerpts from Gary Pitts Letter to Clients - September 19, 2001

Click: Excerpts from Gary Pitts Letter to Clients - September 28, 2000

Click: Memo from Gary Pitts - September 08, 2000

Click: Letter from Gary Pitts - September 13, 1999

Click: Letter from Gary Pitts - May 25, 1999 Update Informaton: June 11, 1999 Corrected Copy - 9/7/99

Click: Veterans Day 1998 and Update Informaton: December 10, 1998

Click: A letter to Christopher Shay and the Committee: July 5, 1998

Click: Enclosures to letter : July 5, 1998

Click: Update Informaton and new Court Dates: April 22, 1998


Re:     The Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 1757 and S.903) and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission ("FCSC") claims of the ill Gulf War veterans; and No. 94-C- 1392- Marshall Coleman, et al vs. ABB Lummus Crest, Inc. et al (23rd Jud. Dist.- Brazoria County, TX.)

Dear Gulf War Toxic Casualty Client:                                                                              

    In my September 3, 1997, status report to you, I informed you of Senator Jesse Helm's amendment which would not allow the tobacco companies to recover against the $1.3 billion in frozen Iraqi funds but would allow Gulf War veterans who have been ill since the war to make claims against the money. On September 10, 1997, USA Today led its front page with an article about this controversy. A copy is enclosed for you. Many of you wrote your U.S. Representatives and Senators about the unfairness of Senator Helm's amendment. As a result, you are about half-way to victory on this issue.
     On October 1, 1997, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 412-5 in favor of Gulf War veterans being able to make a claim against the $1.3 billion in Iraqi funds that are frozen in this country. If you would like to obtain a copy of the one hour debate leading up to this vote, you can contact Cspan at 1-800-277-2698 and ask for the October 1, 1997, U.S. Representatives debate regarding frozen Iraqi assets, which is Segment 7408070101.
     The fight is not yet won however. Ill Gulf War veterans will not be able to make a claim against this money unless the Senate, also, decides that you can. The Senate will go back into session next week. You should write to both of the Senators from your State, as soon as possible, and express your feelings on this matter. A current almanac or your local library can give you the correct spellings of the names of your two U.S. Senators, if you are not sure about them. The address and reference for both of your Senators will be:
Honorable (your Senator's name)                   

 (then the same letter to your other Senator)

United States Senator
Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Re:    The Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 1757 and S.903), and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission ("FCSC") claims of the ill Gulf War veterans.
Dear Senator (____________________):

    Note that it is appropriate to be both respectful though clear and vigorous in expressing your opinion in your letter. I suggest that you cover several or all of the following points in your letter to your two Senators:

1.)      This issue is of great importance to you and to other Gulf War veterans. How the Senator stands on this issue will decide how you, your family, and other Gulf War veterans vote in the future.
2.)       It would be a grotesque injustice and a bad moral precedent to allow tobacco companies to claim against the Iraqi funds but not allow ill Gulf War veterans to claim against the Iraqi funds. On moral grounds, Gulf War veterans should have priority in their claims against the Iraqi funds over tobacco and other commercial claimants. The Gulf War veterans courageously left their homes and were transported to a desert on the other side of the world to put their lives and health on the line and be exposed to chemical warfare agent fallout for the good of our country and the civilized world. The tobacco industry sells a product which addicts its user and leads to sickness and premature death. The tobacco and commercial companies took a voluntary business risk in extending credit to Iraq.    After relations are eventually normalized with Iraq, the tobacco commercial companies will probably be paid anyway since the Iraqis will continue to buy tobacco and other products. In the meantime, the Gulf War veterans who have been ill and disabled since the war still have no cure in sight after the belated admissions that they were exposed to Saddam's chemical warfare agents. Under these circumstances, the Gulf War veterans should surely be treated as fairly as the tobacco and commercial interests in being allowed to present their claims against the Iraqi funds. To do otherwise would be a grave injustice that our country would be ashamed of.  
3.)     You expect that the U.S. Senate will stand by Gulf War veterans on this issue just as the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly did by 412-5 on October 1, 1997.  
4.)     Senator Helm's assertion that there is no historical precedent for veterans' recovery against the Iraqi funds is false and misleading:
          a.)     The government in the American Revolution impounded land from their Royalist     Tory enemies and then gave land grants to our Revolutionary War veterans. For example, the American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, who liberated  Senator Helm's own State of North Carolina, was compensated with about 2,000 acres impounded from the Royalist Lieutenant Governor, John Graham1.
          b.)    Veterans who were mistreated as POWs recovered against German and Japanese funds frozen during World War II;
          c.)     Veterans and their families recovered from Iraqi funds when sailors were killed on the U.S.S. STARK because of Iraqi actions just a few years before the Gulf War.
          d.)     Allowing ill Gulf War veterans to make a claim against the Iraqi funds does not       alleviate the U.S. Government from its non-delegable duty to provide veterans with the benefits that they have been promised. It does not substitute for them. The claims against the Iraqi funds are in the nature of a "third-party claim" in a legal analogy to a state  worker's compensation setting.
          e.)     Even if there was not historical precedent allowing ill Gulf War veterans to make a claim against the Iraqi assets, it would still be a just and reasonable thing to do.         
5.)     The United Nations has passed and enforced resolutions for Iraq to compensate  Kuwait's for their personal injury and property losses due to the Gulf War, begun by Iraq's illegal actions. The money for compensation is being paid out of Iraqi oil revenue from a partial lift of the embargo against Iraq. The American Gulf War veterans who have suffered personal injury due to the Gulf War are similarly allowed to make claims against the Iraqi s funds impounded in our country.
1 Callahan, North, Flight from the Republic: The Tories of the American Revolution (The Bobbs-Merrill Co., N.Y. 1967), p.129; and Thayer, Theodore, Nathanael Greene:   Strategist of the American Revolution (Twayne Publishers, N.Y. 1960,)p.400.                                                                                                  
6.)      Iraq has the second largest known oil reserves in the world and can easily afford the Gulf veterans making claims against its assets that have already been frozen in our country.  The Gulf War was a result of Iraq's flagrant violations of international law and United Nations' resolutions. To allow Gulf War veterans that have been ill since the war to present claims against the frozen Iraqi assets is just. Even a small amount of compensation to an American veteran who is disabled and afflicted since the Gulf War could make a big difference between a life lived in dignity and one without.

     The U.S. House of Representatives debate and vote was organized and initiated by Representative Lloyd Doggett. You should recognize that he and the following Congressional representative spoke up for you during the debate preceding the vote:

        Congressman and Congresswoman that spoke up for Gulf War veterans on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives:  

Lloyd Doggett (TX.)              

Sylvestre Reyes (TX.)
Chet Edwards (TX.) Bill Luther (MN.)
Paul McHale (PA.) Jim Turner (TX.)
Ike Skelton (MO.)   Debbie Stabenow (MI.)
John Tierney (MA.) Ciro Rodriguez (TX.)
Lane Evans (IL.) Rosa DeLauro (CN.)

      If one of the above-listed U.S. Representatives is from the Congressional District that you are in, it would be appropriate for you to send a thank you letter to him or her for speaking out for Gulf War veterans in this matter, and let them know that you appreciate that they did not forget or neglect the veterans but spoke up for them, and that as a result you intend to vote for and support him or her in the future.

      Your success in the U.S. House of Representatives is analogous to the success of the air war against Iraq. It was successful, but there was no real victory until the land war completed the mission. Likewise, until the Senate decides that Gulf War veterans can make a claim against the frozen Iraqi assets, there is no victory on the matter. Victory is not an assured thing. Senator Helms is very powerful in the Senate as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and many Senators would rather not oppose him unless it really is important. Please do your part for yourself and others and write a letter to your two Senators so that you may reach an ultimate victory on this matter.
    In case there is a victory on this matter, you should register with the Persian Gulf War Registry (with the VA or DOD) if you have not yet. You should go through their physical exam (the CCEP - Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program) as soon as you can if you have not yet. The CCEP exam may be relied on in the litigation. The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission has also indicated to me that they will probably rely on the CCEP exam to confirm and validate your symptoms if Gulf veterans can make claims against the frozen Iraqi assets.
     You should, also, collect your medical records since the Gulf War if you have not already. Please keep them for now. Later in 1998, we may need them sent to us. It could be helpful for us if you would organize them in chronological order, with the most recent record on top going back to the earliest record after the war on the bottom.
     If you have suffered a loss of your income due to your illness since the war, we will,also, need a copy of your tax returns from 1989 to the present. If you have a copy of your old tax returns, please continue to keep them. Please keep a copy of your 1997 return and future ones as we may need those too. On old tax returns that you do not have, we will be able to obtain those from the IRS, with a release from you, in due course.
     In relevant news since my September 3, 1997, status report to you, there were the following items:

10/06/97                             The presidential Advisory Committee still suggests that someone other than the Pentagon should  be looking at whether U.S. troops were exposed to chemical  and  biological agents.      (Army Times)

10/29/97                                                                                  The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight has finished a 20 - month look at the Pentagon's work on Gulf War illness and concluded that Congress should assign or establish a separate group to research the ailment.  The House Committee,  also, concluded that Gulf War illness was  probably caused by a "variety of toxic agents" encountered in the war against Iraq.   The agents included nerve agents,  vaccines, pesticides and insect repellents, smoke from oil well fires, and depleted uranium from  spent U.S. anti-tank shells.     (UPI, AP)

10/31/97                                     The final report of the Presidential Advisory Committee will say that the Pentagon has    dismissed  credible evidence that thousands of Marines may have been exposed to poison  gas when they crossed Iraqi minefields as they invaded Kuwait.     (N.Y. Times)

11/05/97                              U.N. inspectors have found evidence that Iraq had produced persistent VX  nerve gas before the Gulf War.    Saddam had acquired 750 tons of  chemicals needed to make VX  before the war.      (Knight-Ridder)

 11/08/97                                         The Pentagon has decided to fund a $3 million study by Dr. Robert W. Haley and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center, who believe they have found at least three distinct Gulf War syndromes, which they attribute to "generalized injury to the nervous system" from toxic chemicals.     (Washington Post)

11/09/97                                            President Clinton formed a federal oversight board of five members, led by former Senator Warren Rudman, for monitoring Pentagon research into Gulf War illness;  and more than $13 million in government research funds will be directed to new research on low-level  exposure to chemical agents.       (AP)

11/7-9/97                                         The third annual conference of the National Gulf War Resource Center, an umbrella organization for 36 grass-roots Gulf War veterans groups, was held in Atlanta.   The keynote speaker was U.S. Representative Bernard Sanders (I-VT.).   (Atlanta Constitution)

    If you are a member of a grass-roots Gulf War veterans' group that has not yet coordinated with the National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc. ("NGWRC"), They are the leading national umbrella organization of Gulf War veterans groups.  Their Internet address is http://www.gulfweb.org/Resource_Center and their Washington, D.C. number is (202) 628-2700, Ext. 162.

     In regards to the litigation against the suppliers of chemical and biological warfare materials to Saddam, the Court has signed a new Scheduling Order which establishes the following dates:

March 14, 1998                                                              Jurisdictional discovery regarding present Defendants will be completed by this  date.   (Until this date, the only discovery authorized is jurisdictional discovery.    There shall not  be any discovery concerning class certification or that deals with the merits of the case.     Any pending discovery dealing with class certification or merits is stayed until further order of this Court.)
April 13, 1998All special appearances and motions to transfer venue not previously heard will be heard.
May 4, 1998                 Court will enter written orders on all pending special appearances and motions to transfer venue by this date.
April 8, 1999  Counsel for all parties shall appear at docket call at 9:00 a.m., at which time the case will be set for trial.

    After a decision is made on the jurisdictional matters in May, discovery on the merits will probably commence. The issue of whether the case should be certified as a class action may be reached in 1998. Whatever the decision is on that, there may be an interlocutory appeal of the decision. Likewise, there can be interlocutory appeals after the Court's jurisdictional decisions in May, on those issues.

      Soon after discovery on the merits begins, the Court may allow the Defendants to serve a standard set of written questions and requests for production of documents to you through our offices. I will forward those on to you with instructions and an updated status report if and when that occurs.
Feel free to circulate this letter among other Gulf War veterans if you would like to.
Best wishes for the new year.

                                                                      Very truly yours,

                                                                      PITTS & ASSOCIATES 

                                                                      ORIGINAL SIGNED

                                                                      Gary B. Pitts

GBP/mb

USA TODAY

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 10,1997

HELMS BILL FAVORS TOBACCO FIRMS OVER VETS

By John Hanchette

Gannett News Service

    WASHINGTON - Sen. Jesse Helms has rewritten elements of a foreign relations bill so that business interests, including at least seven tobacco companies, get priority in filling claims against $1.3 billion in impounded Iraqi funds.

   The changes mean companies would have a far better chance of getting the money than gulf war veterans or the government. Veterans advocates were outraged:
    "To cut out courageous gulf war veterans who have been ill since the war, and to reward instead the somewhat ignoble profits of the tobacco industry, would be something our country would be ashamed of", said Gary Pitts, a lawyer representing vets.
    "We take exception to putting business claims ahead of the veterans", said Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Bill Smith. Veterans "should be given top priority."
    Helms, R-N.C., head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has declined repeated requests for comment.
    The bill, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, is in conference committee, where differences between it and the House version will be resolved. Aides to some House conferees said their members were unaware of Helms' changes.
    More than $5 billion in claims have been filed against the funds, including one for $2.5 billion in farm credits by the Department of Agriculture.
   Among the tobacco companies seeking the funds are Brown and Williamson, James Miller, R.J. Reynolds, Transcontinental Leaf, Universal Leaf Tobacco, Dimon and Standard Commercial. The total of tobacco company claims is not known, but Standards Commercial said it is seeking $12 million.

ARMY TIMES

Published: 09-22-97

Category: THIS WEEK

Page: 20

Gulf War Vets Left Out In New Version Of Iraqi Claims Bill

By: John Hanchette

Gannett News Service

    Persian Gulf War veterans, under provision of a foreign relations bill, would not be eligible to make claims against $1.3 billion in Iraqi funds now frozen in American banks.

    Instead the bill, rewritten recently by Senate Foreign Relations chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., places at the head of the chaim line private corporations - including at least seven big tobacco firms.
    The only veterans covered, under language agreed to recently by House and Senate conferees, would be injured survivors of Iraq's 1987 missile attack upon the frigate USS Stark. Families of the 37 sailors who died in that "accidental" incident already had been given $27.3 million in compensation by Iraq before the Gulf War.
Veterans' groups expressed outrage.
    "We take exception to putting business claims ahead of the Veterans," said veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Bill Smith. "We're greatly offended by any move to disenfranchise vets from such a claim. They made sacrifices in the Gulf War and should be given top priority."
    A "grotesque injustice" is how Houston lawyer Gary Pitts characterized the revised bill. Pitts, representing several hundred Gulf War vets in a class-action suit against big global chemical firms who supplied Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, said: " To cut out courageous Gulf War veterans who have been ill since the war, and to reward instead the somewhat ignoble profits of the tobacco industry, would be something our country would be ashamed of."
    Helms, long a champion of tobacco interests, declined numerous requests for an interview.
    Paul Sullivan, executive director for the National Gulf War Resource Center, which represents more than two dozen grass-roots veterans, called Helms' effort "sleight-of- hand" that wipes out vets' rights to file claims in equal standing.
    "Many have had their government claims denied, and the Pentagon has denied for five years that anyone was exposed to chemicals while these guys twisted in the wind," he said. "This pool of money could alleviate a lot of suffering while their claims are pending, and this is like having the rug swept out from under you."
    The Foreign Relations Authorization Act also puts at the back of the line any claims made against Iraq by government agencies - a potentially costly provision for taxpayers.
    The Agriculture Department's Commodity Credit Corporation, for instance, was stiffed for almost $2.5 billion by Saddam's government after the agency made export guarantees to farmers who shipped grain and other commodities to Iraq before the war. The corporation is trying to get those funds back.
    "The CCC is the government entity with by far the lion's share of non-war related government claims against Iraq," said Agriculture Department lawyer Peter Bonner, who monitors the Iraqi claims effort for his agency. "This puts us at the end of the food chain behind all private companies."
    According to documents at the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, the independent Justice Department agency that would administer the claims once legislation is passed and signed by the president, the tobacco firms that have submitted claims against the $1.3 billion are:
Brown and Williamson; James Miller; R.J.Reynolds; Transcontinental Leaf; Universal Leaf Tobacco; Dimon; and Standard Commercial.
    The settlement commission will not release the total tobacco claims - details are kept confidential by the commission when a claimant requests - but the amount is "big bucks" according to one Justice Department official who asked not to be identified.
    A spokesman for Standard Commercial Corp, of Wilson, N.C., for example, said its claim totals $12 million.
    The controversial act is "in conference" - an effort to reconcile House and Senate versions of basically the same legistration - and talks resume next week. The original House version of the bill did not contain language relating to Iraqi claims, and aides to some House conferees said their members were unaware of Helms' revision.
    In past legislation, claims of U.S. banks, supposedly secured, were given higher priority than unsecured claims of some other businesses, including tobacco firms. This year's bill appears to eliminate that.
    More than $5 billion in claims have been made against the impounded Iraqi money since the 1991 war, and Congress has struggled in the six years since to fashion an Iraqi Claims Act necessary to free the frozen funds. No one in Congress can seem to agree to priorities.
    After the conflict ended, the U.N. Compensation Commission was set up to take claims directly related to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the ensuing hostilities. But the only Gulf War vets eligible were prisoners of war mistreated under Geneva Convention rules.
  Under the U.N. claims process- funded by Iraqi oil revenues and separate from the federal government setup - more than $160 billion has been sought.

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