Camp Lejeune Injury Claims Expected To Spike Leading Up To Filing Deadline in Aug 2024

In August 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act into law, opening a two-year window for veterans, military family members and other individuals injured by contaminated water at the North Carolina U.S. Marine Corps training base to file a claim for financial compensation.

The U.S. government has already received more than 175,000 administrative claims filed with the Department of Navy, which is required before any Camp Lejeune injury lawsuit can be filed in court. However, with only a few months remaining until the Camp Lejeune filing deadline, it is widely expected that the number of claims will rise dramatically in the coming weeks.

Lawyers are continuing to actively investigate claims involving a wide range of injuries linked to toxic chemicals found in the water at Camp Lejeune, including various types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, birth defects, fertility problems and other injuries, and the litigation is likely to become one of the largest mass torts in U.S. history by the time the filing window closes on August 10, 2024.

Widespread Settlements Not Being Reached Before Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Filing Deadline

Although the U.S. Congress enacted the Camp Lejeune Justice Act to provide individuals with a quick path to receive financial compensation, there have seen substantial delays with the Navy reviewing claims and widespread settlements have not materialized.

Last year, the U.S. government announced an elective Camp Lejeune settlement option, providing guaranteed tiers of compensation for veterans and their families if they suffered certain medical conditions, such as kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, bladder cancer, multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease and systemic sclerosis. However, many claimants do not qualify for this settlement, and actual offers have only been provided for a small number of individuals.

According to a joint status report (PDF) filed on March 26, only 110 Camp Lejeune claims have been confirmed as eligible for the elective settlement option. Of those, 11 of the offers have been rejected by the claimants, 40 of the offers expired without a response and another 14 are still pending. As a result, only 45 Camp Lejeune settlement payouts have been accepted by claimants.

April 2024 Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Update

With the filing of new Camp Lejeune injury claims continue to greatly outpace settlements, the U.S. Courts are moving forward with plans to prepare several groups of lawsuits for early trial dates, to help gauge the relative strengths and weaknesses of claims involving different categories of injuries.

Late last year, the Court established a first track of Camp Lejeune bellwether lawsuits, and lawyers have selected 100 cases that are currently going through early discovery, including claims that involve:

• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Leukemia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

In February, the four judges overseeing Camp Lejeune lawsuits announced a Track 2 Discovery Plan Order, involving the following injuries:

• Prostate Cancer
• Kidney Disease
• Lung Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Breast Cancer

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have a binding impact on other claims in hte litigation, the amount of any Camp Lejeune lawsuit payouts awarded may help the parties in global settlement negotiations, by demonstrating how judges are likely to respond in future cases involving various types of injuries.