In 1982, a horrific discovery was made at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune for Marine Corps – veterans and their families had been exposed to deadly proportions of water toxicity for three long decades. Three wells of the Camp – Hadnot Point, Tarawa Terrace, and Holcomb Boulevard – were contaminated with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) released from an offsite dry cleaning facility.
Investigations by the Federal government were ongoing from 1987 to 1998. It was only in the early 2000s that the government acknowledged the mortal threat to the lives of the Camp’s residents. Hundreds of people contracted terminal conditions like cancers of the esophagus, blood, bladder, kidneys, and lungs while thousands were injured with renal toxicity, female infertility, Parkinson’s disease, and more.
The Obama administration passed the official Camp Lejeune Bill in 2012 to provide free medical care to the victims. Finally, the Biden administration enacted the Camp Lejeune Justice Act in August 2022. This made victims and their families eligible to file a Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuit for relevant compensation.
But today it’s been nearly 41 years since the water toxicity was first discovered. The US Department for Veterans Affairs estimates that the Camp Lejeune case had around 1 million victims in total. Many are deceased over the years while others are still awaiting trial. The question is how long will the claims settlement process take and will justice be delivered on time? Let’s delve deeper into the Camp Lejeune lawsuit timeline.
The Standard Process for Camp Lejeune Claim Settlements
The Camp Lejeune lawsuit process has numerous steps involved. Each step may take varying times on a case-to-case basis. The time taken in each step will eventually determine the overall duration for each Camp Lejeune claims settlement. This standard process generally includes –
1. Determining Eligibility
According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans who served in the Marine Corps Base of Camp Lejeune or the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) of North Carolina between August 1st, 1953 and December 31st, 1987 may be eligible to file a lawsuit.
Moreover, the victim must prove that they suffered injuries as a result of spending at least 30 days exposed to Camp Lejeune’s toxic waters. The following conditions are covered under the eligibility criteria for the Camp Lejeune lawsuit –
- Cancers of the breast, bladder, esophagus, kidneys, blood, and lungs
- Female infertility
- Miscarriages
- Multiple Myeloma
- Hepatic Steatosis
- Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
- Myelodysplastic Syndrome
- Scleroderma
- Renal Toxicity
The affected veteran or their family must prove using a healthcare diagnosis that they are currently suffering from any of the conditions listed above.
2. Filing Claims and Pleadings
In the next stage, the victim must gather all documents needed to prove in court that they sustained their current injuries at Camp Lejeune. In the case of the deceased, their families need to take the help of an attorney to build their case.
Then, a legal complaint must be drafted and presented before the court, describing the harm sustained. This is also the stage where the defendant may counterclaim, so there can be multiple back-and-forth.
3. The Discovery Phase
During this stage, both parties must gather relevant information to build their case. In most cases, this phase takes the longest time. Often, multiple negotiations are involved with other parties and witnesses are presented before the court.
The victim will need to present the following documents –
- Service records that prove they worked at Camp Lejeune
- Housing records to prove their residence at Camp Lejeune
- Medical records proving they contracted their injury at Camp Lejeune
4. The Trial
Once both sides of the case are developed, the case is presented before a jury or judge. This step of the Camp Lejeune lawsuit process vastly varies depending upon the time taken to present the evidence, among other factors.
In some cases, the lawsuit may end at this stage itself if the other party is ready to make a settlement. In others, the jury may have to come to a decision to end the trial. A third possibility is that of a post-verdict appeal, which occurs if the other party makes an appeal against the verdict. If that happens, the case may take longer to reach a settlement.
The Statute of Limitations: What it Entails
Camp Lejeune water toxicity victims do not have indefinite time to file a claim. As per the Statute of Limitations, there are time constraints, which generally extend up to two years after the victim realizes their exposure to the harmful waters.
But in light of the date on which the Camp Lejeune Justice Act was passed (August 2022), all victims have time only till August 2024 to file a lawsuit. Other than this time limitation, there is also the six-month Adjudication deadline to keep in mind.
This deadline does not apply directly to the victim, but it is still significant. Any Camp Lejeune victim cannot file a lawsuit against the North Carolina Federal court. They must first file an administrative claim with the Judge Advocate General of the US Navy. The Navy JAG then has six months to adjudicate each claim.
If the claim is denied, the victim only has six months from the date of denial to appeal it in court. In case of no adjudication from the Navy JAG within six months, an individual lawsuit can be filed.
The Settlement Formula and Individual Case Factors
The payout for Camp Lejeune lawsuits will be determined on the basis of a settlement formula. It is likely that the government will create different tiers to segregate individual cases. Then, settlement amounts will be determined and paid out based on each tier.
However, the entire process will not be all standardized. According to TorHoerman Law attorneys, individual case factors will also be taken into account, including –
- The severity of the injury suffered
- The extent to which a person’s life was disrupted due to the condition
- If and when the person is expected to recover
- The degree of financial damage and medical sensitivity
- The degree of suffering endured
Some experts believe that total settlement payouts for Camp Lejeune cases may cost the government nearly $163 billion over the course of 10 years. In most cases, the compensation will cover medical expenses, the lost earning potential of the victim, and any lost wages.
Will All Cases Receive Settlements?
As of now, no Camp Lejeune cases have received any settlements from the Federal government. Whether every case will be deemed eligible for a settlement is still under speculation.
In case a case does not receive any settlement, the victim may send their lawsuit for trial with the help of a reliable lawyer. In any case, settlement amounts will largely vary based on the individual case factors mentioned above.
Piling Litigation Backlogs
It is estimated that currently around 60,000 administrative claims are pending with the US Navy JAG. Out of these, nearly 25,000 are from Florida alone. The rising number of Camp Lejeune logjams is a matter of concern because victims may never have an opportunity for trial.
Jerry Ensminger, a veteran at Camp Lejeune, tragically lost his daughter Janey to leukemia at the age of nine. He has filed a case of wrongful death, but Jerry believes that as many as 40% of the cases have turned from cases of illness to those of wrongful deaths.
This is primarily because many victims suffer from terminal conditions and may succumb before receiving a settlement. If the process is not expedited, others would die of natural causes. Then, the Federal Court will only have preserved victim statements to rely on.
The Bottom Line
Many people have started questioning the government’s lack of responsibility. The officials have shown slackness from the time when water toxicity was discovered back in 1982. Some believe that the Navy JAG is deliberately holding up cases.
Whether this is true or not, it is best to wait for the adjudication deadline of six months and file a lawsuit in case of no resolution. A reliable lawyer can help expedite the process by investigating losses, proving injury association with Camp Water, handling legal communication and query resolution, and taking care of claims settlement.
Though a specific timeline cannot be given for claims settlement, victims would at least not have their cases settled posthumously.
