Thousands Of New Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claims Can Be Expected Because Of The Elective Option

Accepting the amount offered by the new elective option will not impact existing VA benefits and could serve as additional payment for the same injury

Monday, October 2, 2023 - The newly proposed settlement option that can pay victims of Camp Lejeune water contamination for cancer or Parkinson's disease they developed is not a one-size-fits-all solution and each case must be analyzed individually. That is why, in a nutshell, it is critical to speak with a Camp Lejeune water attorney to determine the exact dollar damages an individual and their family members may have suffered, past, present, and future, and to request a dollar amount of compensation commensurate with that figure. The new plan is called the Elective Option and is designed to streamline the water contamination compensation process and provide a quick and generous payout to US Marines and their family members. Unfortunately, like most government-sponsored programs, the new plan may cause more confusion and delay than it was intended and actually delay Camp Lejeune water payouts even further. The Department of the Navy and the Department of Justice are administering the plan and telling the public that the elective option is only available to those with qualifying injuries who worked or lived at Camp Lejeune for at least thirty days. Not only that, the amount of instant cash a qualifying person can receive is contingent on the time spent on the base with the assumption being that the longer one was on the base, the greater the chance one really had of developing a disease.

What is most interesting about the Elective Option however is that not only will a person's VA benefits not be reduced by the amount of Elective Option compensation, but receiving a previous VA benefit will actually automatically qualify one for the new plan. According to Navy.mil, "Certain claimants who have previously received healthcare or disability benefits related to Camp Lejeune from the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") may rely on those benefits to establish eligibility for an EO offer." And the Elective Option gets even better. "Accepting an EO offer will not affect the claimant's VA benefits. Additionally, an EO settlement will not be offset due to a VA benefit through a reduction in the settlement amount for benefits paid or a VA lien." To be sure, The Department of Justice and The Navy have been devastated by the thousands of Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuits that have been filed and will be filed in the months to come and will do anything to reduce that number. In that regard, The Navy tells Elective Option applicants, "The elective option allows those who have already obtained a disability award, payment or benefit related to Camp Lejeune to retain that award, payment or benefit without the offset that would be statutorily required if the claimant were to proceed to trial and win a judgment." There is no telling how many US Marines hesitated in filing a Camp Lejune water claim because they feared that it would have a negative impact on their existing VA benefits. Marines can now be paid twice for their Camp Lejeune water injuries.

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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.