A Breakthrough Announcement Affecting Camp Lejeune Justice Act Payouts

The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Justice will begin expediting certain CLJA claims and pay immediate lump sums of money

Thursday, September 7, 2023 - The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Justice told reporters from Reuters and others that starting soon they will pay certain Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims (CLJA). Payouts of lump-sum offers will range from $100000 to $450000 depending on the type of disease and the duration of the illness. An additional $ 100,000 may be awarded to the survivors of those who have died from ingesting contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. Claimants should contact their Camp Lejeune water attorney and refile according to the new rules. The Navy promises to quickly look at the case and make an offer which the claimant has six months to either accept or refuse. If they refuse the offer, the next step will be to file a Camp Lejeune Justice Act lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The new streamlined offers are designed to alleviate the current backlog of about 93000 CLJA claims that sit idle. It is also hoped to reduce the docket of more than 1100 lawsuits that have been filed by those whose administrative claims have gone unanswered for the six months the Navy had to respond.

According to Reuters: "The new system will offer payments between $100,000 and $550,000 tagged to specific illnesses and lengths of exposure to resolve claims of death or injury from the water, an option some claimants can take instead of pursuing their lawsuit or administrative claim against the government." More news is to come of the specifics of the government's fast-track offers but we do know that expedited offers will only be made to those who have one or more of the specific illnesses that the government presumes to have been caused by Camp Lejeune water contamination. Those illnesses are adult leukemia, aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Parkinson's disease. In addition, veterans must have served at either Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune or Marine Corps Air Station New River for at least 50 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, according to Military.com. "Senior Navy and Department of Justice officials told reporters on Wednesday that the new elective payment option for administrative claims is meant to get veterans and their families paid more quickly. But the officials offered little detail on a timeline," Reuters explained. It is presumed that the new expedited payout will be available to veterans, family members, non-military workers (civilian contractors), and any others who were exposed to the contaminated water. Thousands of Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims have been made by the children of mothers who were pregnant while at Camp Lejeune. It may also be presumed that any award offered will have been reduced by the amount of benefit the claimant is currently receiving or has received for that specific disease to prevent "double dipping" or receiving benefits twice for the same disease.

Information provided by CampLejeuneJusticeActClaim.com, a website devoted to providing news about Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claim, including a free no-cost, no-obligation Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claim.