Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (la-JHOON) is based in Jacksonville, North Carolina, just 50 miles north of Wilmington. Over a million employees, service members, and their families spent time on the base. The camp’s water supply was contaminated with cancer-causing solvents that were 200 to 3,000 times the levels permitted by EPA safety standards. Some of the pollutants identified in Camp Lejeune water include:
All of these chemicals are colorless and lethal and should never be consumed.
The chemical contamination affected those directly exposed by drinking, bathing, and cooking with the water, including children in utero. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million people were exposed to the contaminated water supply from 1953 to 1987.
September 2023: Department of Justice Rolls Out Elective Option
On September 6, the Department of Justice and the Department of Navy announced the finalization of a voluntary process called the “Elective Option,” which gives qualifying claimants the option to participate in a settlement of up to $550,000.
October 2023: Camp Lejeune Justice Act Passes
On August 10, 2022, President Biden enacted H.R. 3967 to allow Marines, Navy personnel, and civilians who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune to make claims for compensation for injuries sustained as a result of exposure to toxins at Camp Lejeune. Section 804 of the bill addresses the water contamination that took place at Camp Lejeune and is specifically known as the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022.
The requirements for filing are complicated. Plaintiffs must provide specific documentation and must first exhaust the applicable administrative processes before filing a lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina. It is important to have competent counsel that you trust to handle these claims on your behalf.
Many law firms will put out estimates of average settlement amounts, but there is no way to know how much plaintiffs will receive at this time. It depends on a lot of individual factors, such as illness/disease type, course of treatment and medical expenses incurred, and length of exposure to contaminated water. What we can tell you is that Pope McGlamry has a national reputation for aggressively fighting for our clients’ compensation. Over the years, we have collected over $2 billion for our clients. For specifics on what to expect from a settlement, schedule a free, no-strings-attached case evaluation.
Pope McGlamry takes on class action cases on a contingency basis, which means our clients pay nothing unless we achieve a successful outcome. Pope McGlamry has a strong record of settlements and favorable verdicts, and we only take on cases we’re confident we’ll win. Explore some of our recent class action successes.
Pope McGlamry founding member Neal Pope and shareholder Kirk Pope (pictured above) both served in the Marine Corps. Our firm has a long history of representing veterans and their families.
Anyone who served, worked, or resided at Camp Lejeune and subsequently developed a disease or condition covered by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 can file a lawsuit. This includes military personnel and their families, contractors, civilians, or anyone else who was otherwise exposed to the water at Camp Lejeune, including those exposed in utero. The following is a sample of diseases caused by exposure to the camp’s contaminated water:
