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The Camp Lejeune lawsuits claim the Camp Lejeune military base contained highly toxic industrial chemicals in its water supply that could cause cancer and other illnesses. Our law firm is investigating cases where individuals were exposed to volatile organic compounds at Camp Lejeune and have been diagnosed with cancers.
Individuals who lived or worked at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, between 1953 – 1987 could have been exposed to water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOC), including trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE); as well as benzene; trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (DCE); and vinyl chloride.
Exposure to this contaminated water has been linked to an increased risk of cancers—including kidney cancer, leukemias, and multiple myeloma—as well as adverse birth outcomes and other adverse health effects.
In order to qualify for compensation under the Camp Lejeune settlement, any claim or lawsuit must be filed within two years from the enactment of the PACT Act. This deadline falls on August 10, 2024. It’s crucial to note that individuals with valid claims might wait until the last minute to pursue legal action, potentially struggling to secure representation from a Camp Lejeune lawyer.
If you believe you have a claim, call our lawyers for a free, no-obligation consultation: Call (800) 277-1193 or complete a short Free Evaluation Form.
The Department of Justice proposed the priority of five conditions in Track 3:
Plaintiffs’ leadership filed a reply supporting their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the issue of causation. As plaintiffs’ counsel point out, the passage of time since claimants’ exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejeune make it difficult to prove specific causation. As such, the attorneys contend, the CLJA was established with a general causation standard. Plaintiffs’ leadership urged the court to keep Congress’ intent in mind and grant the motion, thereby enabling claims to be more efficiently resolved.
Three important things happened in February.
The ATSDR’s Cancer Incidence Study has been released. According to the study Camp Lejeune military personnel and civilian workers experienced a higher risk of developing certain types of cancers, including:
The study has sharpened the focus on the following cancers:
The Camp Lejeune judges ruled that the CLJA does not grant Camp Jejeune plaintiffs the right to a jury trial. Plaintiffs’ attorneys are appelaing this ruling in two cases. Litigation for the remainder of cases will continue.
On February 26, 2024, the court ruled that Track 2 lawsuits will move forward. This includes claimants with these illnesses:
A warning issued by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Navy alerts claimants about fraudulent attemtps to collect monetary payments or personal informaiton from claimants. The warning reminds claimants that legitimate CLJA-claims-related emails will come from claimants’ respective attorneys or from the address CLClaims@us.navy.mil. Individuals who receive calls claiming to be from the Navy’s Camp Lejeune Calims Unit (CLCU) should get the caller’s information and verify its legitimacy at (757)241-6020.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys are appealing the Magistrate judge’s ruling blocking plaintiffs’ counsel from being able to review the ATSDR’s Cancer Incidence Study.
In the first week of December, deositions were scheduled for the U.S. Marine Corps, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
ATSDR has a new study (the Cancer Incidence Study) revealing heightened cancer rates in people who lived and worked at Camp Lejeune who were exposed to the military base’s contaminated water between 1953 and 1987. The study drew data from the U.S. cancer registry and compared cancer rates in Camp Lejeune with those at Camp Pendleton, where the water had not been contaminated. The study has yet to be released.
The DOJ reports that as of November 27, 2023, 16 Camp Lejeune cases have been determined to be eligible for settlement. On November 22, the government argued to federal judges that the Camp Lejeune Justice Act does not specify the right to a jury trial in these cases.
Throughout the month, plaintiffs’ counsel and the government have battled over rules for wrongful death claims. Plaintiffs are asking the court to not require that each plaintiff open an estate in North Carolina. The legal team argues these are not Federal Tort Claims Act claims, as the government tries to portray them. Rather, these claims are governed by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, thereby breaking any ties to North Carolina law when determining how a “legal representative” is defined in these cases.
The month’s work also consisted of the government and plaintiffs’ counsel developing a questionnaire to gather information, to be housed in a secure database, from those harmed by Camp Lejeune’s contaminated water. The data will facilitate determining how compensation will be calculated.
October 2023 Update
An initial status conference took place on October 30, 2023. Agenda items included a report on the number of CLJA actions filed and their status, the number of administrative claims filed with the DON, a report of information from the last meeting, agreements made between parties since the last meeting, and possibilities for resolving the matter. Reportedly, demands have been submitted by more than 117,000 former Marines and family members who suffered injury from exposure to Camp Lejeune’s toxic water. Combined demands have reached into the trillions of dollars.
The EPA has proposed a ban on the use of trichlorethylene (TCE), a primary contaminant in the Camp Lejeune drinking water, after evidence showed the chemical can cause cancer and other serious health problems.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Navy (DON) announced an elective option geared to hasten payout to Camp Lejeune veterans and civilians who suffered from a limited set of illness from exposure to the marine base’s toxic water. Payouts would range between $100,00 and $550,000. The option supplements the existing terms of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 (CLJA) and grants the Department of the Navy greater authority to resolve a limited group of these claims.
LPR believes the current compensation presented in the elective option undervalues each illness and the amount of time they lived or worked at Camp Lejeune.
For Tier 1 diagnoses, settlement offers would be $450,000, $300,000, or $150,000 for exposure time frames of over five years, one to five years, or 30-364 days, respectively. Qualified illnesses include:
For Tier 2 diagnoses, settlement offers would be $400,000, $250,000, or $100,000 for exposure time frames of five years, one to five years, or 30-364 days, respectively. Qualified illnesses include:
An individual whose claim involves death would receive an additional $100,000.
In a status update filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, leadership stated it had “convened, deliberated, and selected the members” of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC). Levin Papantonio Rafferty Attorney Brian Barr was appointed to the PEC for Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water litigation.
Volatile organic compounds were detected at Camp Lejeune in 1982 and traced to drinking water coming from two of the eight water treatment plants on the base. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports that from 1953 to 1985 the systems that supplied drinking water to two housing areas at Camp Lejeune were contaminated with industrial chemicals. During this period, close to 9,000,000 service members were potentially exposed to this harmful water, according to the VA, making Camp Lejeune one of the worst cases of water contamination in U.S. history.
Several Camp Lejeune base housing areas were affected by the contamination, including:
If you worked or lived in one of these housing areas as military personnel or as a civilian and have developed cancer, you might be entitled to compensation under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. Call our attorneys for a free, no-obligation consultation: (800) 277-1193 or complete or short Free Evaluation Form.
The discovery of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune prompted VA to establish a presumptive service connection, meaning that servicemembers who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, and are diagnosed with certain diseases and conditions need not establish a link between the disease or condition and active-duty service in order to receive VA disability benefits.
Military service members must meet all the following criteria to qualify for a Camp Lejeune-related VA disability claim:
The VA provides the following map highlighting Camp Lejeune disability benefit coverage area:
VA disability benefits do not adequately compensate servicemembers and their families for the losses they have endured due to their contaminated-drinking-water-related illnesses. Furthermore, servicemembers have not been previously eligible to sue the federal government for damages.
However, legislation introduced in 2022 aims to lift this restriction.
In May 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill creating an exception to the rule that the U.S. government is not liable for servicemembers’ injuries. Under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, service members and their families would be permitted to bring legal action to seek financial relief for their injuries/illnesses if resulting from exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
This federal cause of action covers:
The Marine Corps developed the Camp Lejeune Historic Drinking Water Notification Database to help identify and communicate with individuals who either lived or worked at Camp Lejeune between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, and could have been exposed to contaminated water.
The ATSDR provides detailed data about the chemicals found at both the Tarawa Terrace Treatment Plant and the Hadnot Point Treatment Plant. According to the agency’s analysis, PCE was the main contaminant found at Tarawa Terrace, with concentrations exceeding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant levels. ATSDR explains that this compound degrades in groundwater to TCE, DCE, and vinyl chloride. The source of the PCE contamination was an off-base dry cleaner facility.
At Hadnot Point, the main contaminant found was TCE (at 1,400 parts per billion (ppb)), with the current limit being 5 ppb. DCE, PCE, benzene, and vinyl chloride were also discovered at this treatment plant. According to ATSDR, this contamination stemmed from leaking underground storage tanks and waste disposal sites.
The chemicals found in Camp LeJeune drinking water serve multiple purposes.
The health outcomes of exposure to chemicals depend on several factors:
Additionally, several studies have shown that exposure to contaminants found in water systems at Camp Lejeune produce an increased risk of certain cancers and illnesses.
A January 2017 study by ATSDR concluded the following potential health effects from Camp Lejeune’s drinking water:
TCE
PCE
Benzene
Vinyl chloride
2018 Study of Camp Lejeune Water-Related Diseases
In 2018, the ATSDR published a study aimed at determining whether exposure to Camp Lejeune’s contaminated drinking water was linked to specific cancers or other diseases in service members, families, and civilians.
The study reviewed medical problems from this population and compared them with their counterparts at Camp Pendleton, who had not been exposed to the contaminated water. The group also researched whether increased levels of exposure to the drinking water contaminants were connected to an increased risk of disease.
Researchers concluded there was a connection between exposure to Camp Lejeune drinking water and an increased risk of bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and kidney disease.
Specifically, the study showed the following links:
The study also showed that risks for the following contaminant-disease combinations increased with exposure:
The amounts that claimants can receive in Camp Lejeune verdicts or settlements depend on multiple factors, including the type and extent of disease or health condition suffered as a result of exposure to the base’s contaminated water.
Generally, this type of action will involve several types of recoverable damages, including (but not limited to):
Our Camp Lejeune attorneys will work to recover the maximum financial compensation for your losses which occur from your exposure to contaminated drinking water at the military base.
1942: Construction of all principal areas of the Camp Lejeune base are completed or begun.
1989: The EPA adds Camp Lejeune and ABC One-Hour Cleaners to list of Superfund Sites, adding both to the National Priorities List
1990: ATSDR identifies PCE as the main contaminant of concern in Camp Lejeune’s Tarawa Terrace drinking water system. Despite the well’s removal, groundwater remains contaminated, making it and subsurface soils a public health concern.
1997: ATSDR identifies exposure to Camp Lejeune contaminated water as a past health hazard and recommends study to assess danger to children who had been exposed in utero.
2003: ATSDR identifies from phone survey 106 cases of children with birth defects and some form of childhood cancer.
2007: Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant analysis shows that residents in this area of housing from November 1957 to February 1987 received PCE-contaminated drinking water that exceeded EPA’s max contaminant level.
2008: National Defense Authorization Act requires a health survey of people potentially exposed to Camp Lejeune contaminated drinking water.
2011: ATSDR mails health surveys to people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune during the contamination period, asking recipients about 20 different cancers and diseases.
2014: Mortality Study of Marine and Naval Personnel; Mortality Study of Civilian Employees
2016: Cancer Incidence Study to determine if exposure to contaminated waters increased risk of specific cancers.
2017: ATSDR’s Camp Lejeune Drinking Water Public Health Assessment released showing health effects of VOC exposure from drinking water at Camp Lejeune.
If you suffered exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and have developed a serious illness since your time there (between 1953 and 1985), it is important for you to know your rights under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.
Since 1955, our personal injury lawyers have represented people injured at the hands of large corporations and government entities. Let us put our knowledge, experience, and passion for justice to work for you.
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