Judge William Bertelsman in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky scheduled a hearing on the issue for Friday.

Last week, the VA said it would offer a year of free credit counseling to the veterans amid concerns that they could be victims of identity theft. A database with personal information on 26.5 million veterans and their spouses was stored on a laptop and external hard drive stolen from a VA analyst's home in early May.

Lawyers for the veterans said the VA proposal was "misleading and incomplete" because it fails to adequately inform those who accept the offer whether they are giving up the right to seek other remedies. Officials at the VA could not be reached for comment today.

In response to the data theft, the Vietnam Veterans of America joined with four other national organizations and several individual veterans in filing a class-action lawsuit seeking judicial oversight and protection of the VA computer files. The other organizations are the National Gulf War Resource Center, Radiated Veterans of America, Citizen Soldier and Veterans for Peace.

The veterans' complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks: