Article Clearly, $26,500,000,000 will fix the horrific emotional distress inflicted on 26.5 million veterans whose information was stolen from a suburban Maryland home. The federal lawsuit asks a court to order Veterans Affairs to pay damages of about $1,000 per veteran and to cover the cost of credit monitoring services. But Paul, it was discovered that the information was stolen BEFORE it was used! Doesn't that mean the system worked this time? Do all veterans really need credit monitoring services? How much are you getting for this (aside from obvious free publicity) Mr. Hackett? "We're not looking for big emotional distress damages," he said. "We're looking for these people to be made whole." Wow. I wish $1,000 would make me whole. Instead, I choose to lead a fulfilling life... I know, it's no $1,000, but it works for me. Update 06/03/06: From a comment on Bizzy's post on this issue: Hey genius: Hackett is the CLIENT, not the attorney. If you knew anything about class action law, you’d know that an attorney cannot be a class representative - and cannot collect any attorney fees awarded to the class. Maybe you should do a little research before you go around making baseless allegations. Paul Hackett is representing this class because it’s the right thing to do. I don't know much about class action law, but I DO know this unecessary suit, if won, will cost the federal government a VERY LARGE amount of cash better spent elsewhere, or better given back to the people. This is not the "right" thing to do, unless you're a lawyer/politician interested in scoring expensive political points.