Special protections afforded to service members are being undermined by a legal trap buried in the fine print of contracts and click-through agreements.
The Justice Department reached a settlement with Texas-based Western Rim Investors for charging Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland troops illegal lease termination fees between 2011 and 2020.
Troops heading out on deployment, or changing their duty station, can get out of their lease without penalty in most cases thanks to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.