If you or a family member were stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from August 1953 to December 1987 and have been diagnosed with health problems related to contaminated water there, you may be able to file a lawsuit and recover damages under new legislation. The Honoring our PACT Act, which contains provisions previously found in the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, is poised to become law. Once it does, veterans exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune will have two years to file a lawsuit.
Graham Law is partnering with a Cleveland-based law firm to file these cases on behalf of veterans and their families. To discuss your eligibility, please schedule your free case review.
Former Residents, Personnel May Have Been Exposed to Chemicals at Camp Lejeune
For more than three decades, as many as one million military and civilian staff, as well as their families, may have been exposed to contaminants in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune that caused them to develop certain diseases. The sources of the contamination were an off-base dry cleaning company, leaking underground tanks, industrial spills, and waste disposal sites.
Both the CDC and the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledge that Camp Lejeune drinking water was contaminated.
The government does not deny that contaminants were found in the drinking water systems that supplied housing at Camp Lejeune—the CDC and the VA both admit it. For example, the CDC acknowledges that drinking water from Camp Lejeune treatment plants were found to contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including:
- Perchloroethylene (PCE)
- Trichloroethylene (TCE)
- Vinyl chloride
- Benzene
TCE, vinyl chloride, and benzene are classified as human carcinogens; PCE is considered a “likely” or “probable” human carcinogen. The CDC has determined that sufficient scientific evidence exists to causally link these chemicals to a number of diseases. Many of these same diseases are included on a list of “presumptive conditions” that the VA uses to assign disability benefits to Camp Lejeune veterans. Those diseases are:
- Adult leukemia
- Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
- Bladder cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Liver cancer
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Parkinson’s disease
The Honoring our PACT Act and Camp Lejeune Justice Act
It was only in 2017 that the VA began offering disability benefits to veterans exposed to tainted water at Camp Lejeune. The VA estimates that approximately 900,000 service members were exposed.
But many feel this did not go far enough, leading to the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022. The bill was passed by Congress on March 3, 2022 and later became part of the Honoring our PACT Act, which incorporates the Camp Lejeune Justice Act alongside a broader set of benefits for toxic-exposed veterans.
If you or your family, including your unborn child, worked, resided, or were otherwise exposed to the water at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days, between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987, you may be able to file a toxic exposure lawsuit.
Here are a few important things to know about these lawsuits:
- To prevail, you will need to prove that you suffered harm from your toxic exposure.
- The burden of proof involves showing a causal relationship between the harm and exposure to Camp Lejeune toxic water (note that there are numerous government health studies linking Camp Lejeune chemicals with cancers and other chronic conditions).
- Filing a lawsuit does not affect your eligibility for Camp Lejeune VA disability benefits. However, any money you receive from a lawsuit could be affected by a disability award, payment, or benefit provided by the VA, Medicare, or Medicaid.
- You have two years to file a lawsuit from the date the law is passed.
Find Out If You Qualify for a Camp Lejeune Toxic Exposure Lawsuit
Military members risk their lives to protect our nation. But those risks shouldn’t include exposure to toxic chemicals in the military’s drinking water. Our veterans deserve better, and we are committed to helping them.
Graham Law is joining forces with the award-winning trial lawyers at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber to file Camp Lejeune toxic water lawsuits for veterans and their families. We are filing these cases on a no-risk basis. You pay no out-of-pocket legal costs, and if we don’t win your case, you pay nothing.
The two-year filing deadline for Camp Lejeune lawsuits means that you must act fast. To receive a no-cost and no-obligation case review, call or contact us.
