Articles Posted in Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Lawsuits

Decades ago, specifically from the 1950s-1980s, tests completed revealed that water at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina was toxic and numerous water wells were shut down.

The Marine Corps did not respond to the problem right away, leaving service members, employees, and their loved ones residing and/or working on base drinking, cooking, and bathing with water that was tainted with chemicals that have been linked to illnesses, like breast cancer, bladder cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, ALS, infertility, miscarriages, still births, Parkinson’s disease, and more.

All affected individuals (this includes families of deceased victims) are one step closer to obtaining justice through financial compensation as President Joe Biden signed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 into law Wednesday. It is now possible for victims, as well as family members of the deceased, to take legal action through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

Who Can Join the Lawsuit?

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act outlines everyone who will be granted the opportunity to take legal action. The first group who qualifies is anyone who lived on base at Camp Lejeune for a minimum of 30 days from any time frame between August 1953-December 1987. This applies for service members as well as their families.

The next group eligible to file is anyone who worked on base at Camp Lejeune between August 1953-December 1987. Not all employees during this time period were active service members, some were civilian contractors, etc. In order to be eligible for compensation, they must have worked on the military base for at least 30 days.

The last group includes anyone who encountered dangerous chemicals from the water contamination on base at Camp Lejeune. This group includes those that were exposed to toxic water while in utero.

What Conditions will be Compensated?

Once you meet the above eligibility requirements, then of course, you must have developed an injury, disease, or illness as a result.

Anyone who was exposed to TCE, PCE, and benzene at Camp Lejeune may have developed various cancers, including:

• Breast cancer
• Leukemia
• Multiple myeloma
• Bladder cancer
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Kidney cancer
• Lung cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Esophageal cancer

In addition to cancer, there are other diseases that have been linked to TCE and PCE exposure, including:

• Aplastic anemia (and other myelodysplastic syndromes)
• Parkinson’s disease
• Infertility / miscarriage
• Still births
• Birth defects, like spina bifida
• Cardiac defects
• Fatty liver disease
• Neurobehavioral conditions
• Scleroderma
• Hepatic Steatosis
• ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
• Tooth Loss
• Tooth Decay
• Reoccurring rash
• Fear of injury (when others in family have been sick)

If you meet the above criteria, then you will be able to begin your pursuit of justice through a lawsuit. Our Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Attorneys at Whittel & Melton can help you proceed with the entire process from start to finish.

How Do I File a Claim or Lawsuit?

Right now, you can contact us and tell us your story and we can begin helping you proceed with a claim and make sure it is filed correctly and on time. As claims begin moving forward, they will likely be grouped together in a class action suit in North Carolina for all victims, regardless of where they currently live now.

If you think that contaminated water at camp Lejeune has caused your condition or resulted in a condition that led to the death of a loved one, then your time to hold the U.S. government accountable for their failure to take necessary action is now. You need a lawyer who can establish liability and prove that your medical condition is from the toxic water at Camp Lejeune and not a pre-existing condition. The government could try and argue that you or your loved one’s medical condition is due to something else in your medical history and not the chemicals in the water on base. We can help you prove that toxic water caused your condition. A lawsuit against the government is different from a lawsuit against an individual person, so you need to enlist the help of a lawyer who can handle this type of legal work for you. Call our Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Attorneys at Whittel & Melton now at 866-608-5529 or contact us online for a free consultation.

What If Your Loved One Had a Claim But is Deceased?

Due to the Pact Act 2022, immediate family members of those who died prematurely because of the water contamination at Camp Lejeune will be able to move forward with wrongful death lawsuits against the U.S. government. These lawsuits can be filed even if the person died decades ago if there is proof the person worked or lived on base during the contamination period and developed a health condition from the toxic water that ultimately resulted in their death. Camp Lejeune wrongful death claims can be filed even if the person died decades ago.

What If I Was on Base, But not a Service Member, merely a Spouse or Child?

Under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, all family members, including spouses and children (even those in utero) that lived on base for at least 30 days during the contamination period and have developed a health condition that can be traced back to the toxic exposure resulting from Camp Lejeune contaminated water are eligible to file claims.

Our Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Attorneys at Whittel & Melton can review your potential claim for free and help you understand what steps to take next. Continue reading

On Tuesday, legislation passed allowing for those affected by the tainted water on the North Carolina marine corps base from 1953 to 1987 to file a federal lawsuit seeking compensation from the federal government.

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act has been in the making for four decades and will offer support to those who were harmed from toxic water exposure.

The road to get the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 passed has been met with much opposition from the Department of Defense and the Supreme Court banning those affected by the tainted water from suing the government. This important Act will carve out a new precedent moving forward as the U.S. government has acknowledged a link between the toxic water on the base and a plethora of very serious illnesses.

The final step to make this bill a law is for President Biden, who was already in favor of this bill, to sign it into law – anticipated to be done right away.

Once President Biden signs, those that have lost parents, children (even in-utero), or are sick themselves can now seek some form of justice. The law establishes a two-year window for Veterans and family members to make a claim as long as they were on the base for at least 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987.

Decades of Abandonment

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune was founded in 1942 as a training base for Marines to practice beach landings – a key piece in winning World War II.

The Navy engineers that designed the base drew its water from a shallow aquifer that quickly became polluted from military activities.

The tasteless and odorless contaminants were not discovered until 1985 and once the poisoned wells were identified, they were shut down. Four short years later Camp Lejeune was labeled a hazardous waste site under the federal Superfund law. This prompted an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out if the base contained any threats to human life.

When hazardous compounds were found in the water system, officials on base fought off any wrongdoing due to the fact that the contaminants located were not yet regulated by state or federal agencies. When federal scientists urged the Navy and Marine Corps to further investigate, they argued that the research was not necessary and would not yield any reliable results.

900,000 People Suffered

An estimated 900,000 people were assigned to Camp Lejeune during 1953-1987. There have been many diseases linked to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, including:

• Leukemia
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
• Kidney Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Scleroderma
• Multiple Myeloma
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Aplastic Anemia
• Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Other health conditions linked to the toxic water exposure at Camp Lejeune include:

• Esophageal cancer
• Breast cancer
• Bladder cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Lung cancer
• Renal toxicity
• Female infertility
• Birth defects
• Miscarriage
• Hepatic steatosis
• Neurobehavioral effects

Camp Lejeune’s Baby Heaven

The number of women who lived on base while pregnant who had miscarriages or still births is shocking. There is even a cemetery near Camp Lejeune that contains a section that is known as “baby heaven” as there are many gravestones for infants.

There are also a staggering number of children who suffered serious birth defects or developed cancers, like leukemia – all traced back to the contaminated water supply at Camp Lejeune. Continue reading