Camp Lejeune Lawsuits for Water Contamination

A federal law passed in the summer of 2022, the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, allows victims of water contamination at the Camp Lejeune military base to file lawsuits for compensation. The CLJA removes several legal barriers that would have prevented victims from getting compensation otherwise. As a result, victims whose claims previously were rejected may be able to file again. The law also provides for a lenient standard of proof, making it easier to prove liability. If they can show that the Camp Lejeune water contamination resulted in their illness or injury, a victim may be able to recover economic and non-economic damages, ranging from financial losses such as medical bills to their pain and suffering. There is no cap on compensatory damages.

A victim must file a Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuit in a specific federal court: the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Victims from outside the Eastern District must file in the Southern Division of this court. Before going to court, however, a victim must go through the process of filing an administrative claim. This process and the other nuances of the CLJA are discussed in more detail below.

Filing a Camp Lejeune Lawsuit

A claimant can pursue compensation under the CLJA if they were exposed to water at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987. To prove liability for Camp Lejeune water contamination, they must show one or more relationships between the water at Camp Lejeune and their harm. This means producing evidence showing that the relationship between their exposure to the water at Camp Lejeune and their harm is sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship exists, or sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not. Compared to ordinary toxic tort cases, this burden of proof is relatively lenient.

A victim must start by filing a claim with the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Navy’s Tort Claims Unit. If the JAG accepts the claim, the case will end at this stage. If the JAG denies the claim, a victim must file a Camp Lejeune lawsuit in federal court. If the JAG fails to make a final disposition of a claim within six months, federal law provides that this may be treated as a denial. As of mid-November 2022, the JAG had not resolved any of the several thousand claims filed with it, so they likely will proceed to court.

Damages available in Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuits may cover both economic and non-economic forms of harm. For example, a victim might get compensation for medical costs, lost income, lost earning capacity, and the costs of future treatment, as well as their pain and suffering. Punitive damages are not available. Any damages will be offset by VA, Medicare, or Medicaid payments for health issues or disabilities caused by exposure to the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

FAQs About Camp Lejeune Lawsuits

How the Camp Lejeune Justice Act Helps Victims

The CLJA removes three significant obstacles in the path of victims. Most notably, it overrides a North Carolina law that does not allow victims to bring personal injury claims when more than 10 years have passed since the last act or omission that caused their injuries. This had blocked Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuits because victims did not know the cause of their health problems until after the 10-year period had expired. The Marine Corps did not even notify former Camp Lejeune residents of the toxic exposure until 1999, and the first lawsuit was not filed until 2009. The North Carolina legislature amended the law in 2014 to exclude groundwater contamination claims, but courts ruled that the amendment did not apply retroactively.

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court established in the 1950 case of Feres v. U.S. that the government is not liable for injuries to service members when the injuries are related to their service. The CLJA creates an exception to the Feres doctrine by specifically including veterans among eligible plaintiffs in Camp Lejeune lawsuits, although it excludes claims arising from “combatant activities.” On November 9, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Camp Lejeune case filed before the CLJA was passed, which had challenged the application of the Feres doctrine under prior law. The Court likely found that the case was moot (no longer a real dispute) because the CLJA had resolved this problem.

Finally, the government had argued in response to previous cases based on Camp Lejeune water contamination that the discretionary function exception barred liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The CLJA prevents the government from asserting this defense or any other claim to immunity provided by the same subsection of the U.S. Code.

History of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act

The CLJA forms part of a larger law known as the Honoring Our PACT (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics) Act. The law is designed to assist veterans who suffered from toxic exposure while they served in the armed forces. (The water contamination at Camp Lejeune is just one episode in which this type of harm occurred.) The Honoring Our PACT Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, on June 17, 2021. It was introduced in the Senate by Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, on December 9, 2021. The House passed its version of the law (HR 3967) by a 256-174 vote on March 3, 2022, while the Senate passed its version (S 3373) by an 84-14 vote on June 16, 2022.

However, the bill needed to pass the Senate again due to technical corrections that were unrelated to the substance of the law. At this point, 25 Republican Senators reversed their positions, causing the bill to fail. These Senators voiced concerns about the funding mechanism in the bill, although it existed in the version that they had previously approved. After veterans protested outside the U.S. Capitol, the bill passed the Senate by an 86-11 vote on August 2, 2022. (The text did not change after the failed vote.) President Joseph Biden signed the bill into law on August 10, 2022, opening the door for Camp Lejeune water contamination victims to file claims.

VA Benefits for Camp Lejeune Injuries

Veterans, reservists, and members of the National Guard who served at Camp Lejeune or the nearby Marine Corps Air Station New River also may be eligible for VA benefits. To qualify for compensation based on Camp Lejeune water contamination, they must have served at one of these facilities for at least 30 cumulative days between August 1953 and December 1987. They also must not have received a dishonorable discharge.

The VA has listed eight conditions that qualify a claimant for health care and disability compensation based on their exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. They must provide medical records showing a diagnosis of one of the following conditions:

• Adult leukemia
• Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Liver cancer
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Parkinson’s disease

In addition, the VA has listed 15 conditions for which veterans and their family members can get reimbursed for their out-of-pocket health care costs. These conditions include bladder, breast, esophageal, kidney, and lung cancer, as well as leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. Female infertility, miscarriage, hepatic steatosis, renal toxicity, scleroderma, and neurobehavioral effects are also covered. A victim can pursue these benefits in addition to filing a lawsuit, although compensation from a Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuit will be reduced by VA payments, as noted above. The VA provides further information about the process of pursuing benefits.

Contaminants Found at Camp Lejeune

Established in 1942, Camp Lejeune is a Marine Corps Base near Jacksonville in Onslow County, North Carolina. In addition to military service members and their families, many civilian employees and contractors have lived or worked there. In 1982, the Marine Corps found that the water provided by the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point water treatment plants at Camp Lejeune contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune likely increased the risk of serious health conditions among people who lived and worked at Camp Lejeune between the 1950s and 1980s.

The main contaminant found at the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant was tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE). According to ATSDR analysis of Camp Lejeune water contamination, PCE concentrations in water from Tarawa Terrace exceeded the current maximum contaminant level for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) between November 1957 and February 1987. The EPA limit for PCE in drinking water is 5 ppb, while the PCE level in the drinking water provided by Tarawa Terrace peaked at 215 ppb in 1985. Waste disposal practices by an off-base dry cleaning firm apparently caused the contamination. The wells at Tarawa Terrace that experienced the greatest contamination stopped operations in February 1985. Tarawa Terrace was completely shut down in March 1987.

Meanwhile, the main contaminant found at Hadnot Point was trichloroethylene (TCE). The EPA limit for TCE in drinking water is 5 ppb, while the TCE level in the drinking water provided by Hadnot Point peaked at 1,400 ppb in 1982. Additional hazardous chemicals at Hadnot Point included PCE, benzene, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (DCE), and vinyl chloride (VC). The ATSDR believes that at least one VOC at Hadnot Point exceeded the current maximum contaminant level for drinking water set by the EPA between August 1953 and January 1985. Problems causing the contamination included leaking underground storage tanks and waste disposal sites, among others. Like Tarawa Terrace, Hadnot Point shut down its most contaminated wells by February 1985. However, the facility continues to operate today.

Health Conditions Caused by Camp Lejeune Water Contamination

People who lived and worked at Camp Lejeune often developed serious health problems from using the contaminated water. Many conditions arising from water contamination at Camp Lejeune were fatal or permanently life-changing. The ATSDR has found that there is sufficient evidence to establish causation between the following contaminants and conditions:

• PCE: bladder cancer
• TCE: kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cardiac birth defects
• Benzene: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia
• VC: liver cancer

In addition, the ATSDR has found that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not to exist between the following contaminants and conditions:

• PCE: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, end-stage renal disease
• TCE: liver cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease, end-stage renal disease, scleroderma
• Benzene: multiple myeloma

Studies identified by the ATSDR also have suggested links between one or more of these contaminants and a plethora of other health conditions. These include numerous additional forms of cancer, liver cirrhosis, Hodgkin’s disease, aplastic anemia, impaired immune system function, neurological problems, miscarriage, fetal death, and various birth defects. (Read the full ATSDR report on Camp Lejeune water contamination for more details.)

Last reviewed November 2023