The Navy Announces Specifics On The Preset Payment Option For The Expedited Payment Of Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claims

Two tiers have been established based on the amount of time a claimant spent living or working on Camp Lejeune and the illnesses they developed

Friday, September 8, 2023 - According to Stars and Stripes (S and S), the departments of Justice and the Navy Justice, have announced standard settlement offers that could speed up payments for select Camp Lejeune water victims. There will be a "preset payment option" for anyone who qualifies by having one of several illnesses presumed to have been caused by drinking contaminated water on the base from 1953 to 1987. The preset option is described by S and S as: " Officials of the Navy and Justice Department described the new path to paying claims as a voluntary elective option, meant to provide a simple settlement solution outside of a court. The elective option would pay victims between $100,000 and $450,000 depending on their illnesses and the amount of time they spent at Camp Lejeune." The option is designed to provide a quick and easy option to alleviate the logjam produced in the processes that each Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims individually. More than one million people are estimated to have been impacted by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. About 93000 administrative claims have been made the the Navy has been unable to process more than 10% of them by the time the six-month time limit they have to do so runs out. The Navy has said they are committed to hiring additional personnel to process the claims and have sought additional funding to do so. The new payment option has been described by Erik Raven, the Navy's undersecretary, as "a "streamlined process to resolve" the backlogged claims." Even if 90% of the claimants take the immediate payout, however, it will leave more than 10,000 Camp Lejeune water claims that may have to be adjudicated in the Easter District of North Carolina, one at a time, by only four judges there.

The two-tiered streamlined payment option is limited to those who have been diagnosed with certain presumed illnesses before August 10, 2022, the day when the Camp Lejeune Justice Act went into effect. "Those specific diseases fall in two payment tiers. The first-tier diseases are kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, and bladder cancer. The second-tier illnesses are multiple myeloma, Parkinson's disease, kidney disease (end-stage renal disease), and systemic sclerosis/systemic scleroderma," according to S and S. " Tier 1 diagnoses would pay individuals exposed to Camp Lejeune toxic water by working or living on the post for more than five years $450,000. It would pay those exposed for one to five years $300,000, and it would pay those exposed for 30 days to 364 days $150,000, according to DOJ documents. Tier 2 diagnoses would pay $400,000, $250,000, or $100,000 to those exposed for more than five years, those exposed one to five years, and those exposed 30 to 364 days, respectively, according to the documents. Claims involving a death would pay an additional $100,000, DOJ said." Refiling claims under the new guidelines may require that claimants speak with their Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims attorney. The Navy promises to examine their case immediately and provide an offer, which the claimant has six months to accept or reject.

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.