Former Army Officers Reach Settlement

Nearly 900 former Army lieutenant colonels will benefit from a $50.2 million class action settlement for loss of pay due to a 1992 Selective Early Retirement Board’s affirmative action selections. Of the 1,184 officers the board selected for early retirement, 1,052 were white males. Retired Lt. Col. Frank Christian filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit in 1997, asserting that the board had unconstitutionally used race- and gender-based criteria in making its selections. Judge Loren A. Smith of the Court of Federal Claims certified the case as a class-action suit, and in June 2000 ruled in favor of Christian. The case went to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit where Justice Department attorneys for the Army contended that not all the plaintiffs were eligible for restitution. The appeals court agreed. Christian then appealed to the Supreme Court, which remanded the case to Smith for final disposition, which resulted in the finding for the plaintiffs.