The U.S. Navy has received over 546,000 claims for compensation from individuals affected by the contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to a recent court filing.
The filing is a joint status report submitted on Aug. 20 by the U.S. government and the Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group (PLG), a group of attorneys appointed by the court to lead and coordinate the legal efforts on behalf of all the plaintiffs in the Camp Lejeune water contamination case, whose number of claims positions it as one of the largest injury cases in U.S. history.
The U.S. Marine Corps discovered contaminants in drinking water at the base in 1982. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry, “as many as one million military and civilian staff and their families might have been exposed to the contaminated drinking water” over a period of about 30 years.
The filing follows an Aug. 10 deadline to file claims under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA), a law that allows people previously exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune to file a new claim with the U.S. Navy.
The Camp Lejeune litigation surpasses even the massive multidistrict litigation involving 3M Co’s military-issue earplugs, which saw nearly 400,000 lawsuits. The Navy has stated its commitment to resolving each valid CLJA claim as fairly and quickly as possible, but with such a large number of claims, the process is likely to be lengthy and complicated.
The joint status report indicates that the Navy is focusing its efforts on processing the claims received by the Aug. 10 deadline, which includes removing duplicates, so the number of claims could still fluctuate slightly.
“Let’s be realistic. Given the population size and the duration over which the contamination occurred, it is improbable that over half a million people suffered direct injuries. This number is certainly inflated with duplicates and claims that are simply not viable,” according to personal injury law firm Miller & Zois, LLC, whose lawyers represent some of the victims.
The report also states that a total of 2,037 lawsuits have been filed under the CLJA in the Eastern District of North Carolina from Feb. 11, 2023, to Aug. 20, 2024. These cases are distributed among four federal judges, with each handling about 500 cases. Of these, 50 cases have been dismissed, mostly through voluntary dismissals.
The court has set out a phased trial framework to handle the vast litigation, beginning with the determination of the specific chemicals present in Camp Lejeune’s water supply from 1953 to 1987. This initial phase, referred to as the “Water Contamination Phase,” will be followed by a phase addressing “General Causation” for specific illnesses claimed by plaintiffs, and finally, individual trials for those affected, per the filing.
Both parties in the litigation—represented by the PLG and the U.S. Department of Justice—have agreed on the essential elements required to prove a CLJA claim. Plaintiffs must demonstrate that they resided, worked, or were otherwise exposed to the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days during the specified period, suffered harm, and that the harm was caused by the water contamination.
The Navy has been working to resolve these claims through administrative processes, but progress has been slow. So far, only about 150 cases have been resolved administratively, leading many to proceed with federal lawsuits. More lawsuits are likely to be on the way, with the first trials not expected to begin until late 2025.
The litigation process has been complex, with ongoing discovery efforts including document production and depositions, per the filing. Both sides are actively engaged in gathering evidence and preparing for the upcoming phases of the trial. Some disputes remain unresolved, including technical issues with document production and disagreements over the scope of certain depositions. The status report indicates that the parties are continuing to meet and confer on outstanding issues.