Bipartisan support is building for a bill that would revise a 2022 law allowing victims of contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to seek damages from the government. The legislation from two North Carolina Republicans, Rep. Greg Murphy and Sen. Thom Tillis, would make technical corrections to the law known as the Camp Lejeune Justice Act so plaintiffs could request jury trials, cases could be heard in more federal courts and attorneys fees could be capped at 25 percent. Since the 2022 law was enacted, clearing the way for as many as a million people who were exposed to contaminated drinking water at the base between 1953 and 1987 to seek compensation for illnesses and deaths that resulted, more than 400,000 damage claims have been filed with the Navy and more than 2,800 lawsuits are pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. [Death is the only winner so far in Camp Lejeune litigation] But only about 100 settlements have been reached with victims, according to attorneys representing the plaintiffs, and the lawsuits have taken three years to get ready for trials in the courtrooms of four federal judges in North Carolina. The first of 25 so-called bellwether cases, which could determine damage amounts for other victims with certain diseases linked to the water at Camp Lejeune, are now expected to begin early next year. "It's just been absolutely egregious that essentially only 100 of over 400,000 claims have been adjudicated," Murphy said in an interview. "Time is of the essence. We need to get to this." Since Murphy introduced his bill on June 25, 32 co-sponsors have signed on, including 18 Democrats and 14 Republicans. Tillis' bill, introduced in March, now has three Democratic and two Republican co-sponsors. "Veterans have a very, very strong network, and word gets out," Murphy said. "And I think this is finally, or this is probably just now, getting back to their representatives, to co-sponsor and get this issue resolved and get remedy for those people who deserve it." Murphy and Tillis introduced similar legislation in the last Congress, but the bills never moved through committees. The most significant effect of the measures would be to allow plaintiffs to request jury trials, after the federal judges ruled that Congress didn't clearly delineate that right in August 2022 when it passed the law allowing those harmed by the contamination to file damage claims with the Navy and then lawsuits in federal court if those claims weren’t resolved within six months. Murphy’s bill would also allow victims to file lawsuits in federal courts in both North Carolina and South Carolina, while Tillis' bill would open the cases to any of the five states in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The bills would also set limits on attorneys fees, as the Department of Justice recommended when it announced a process for settling claims in 2023: Fees should not exceed 20 percent for administrative claims and 25 percent for lawsuits filed in court. Murphy said he believes the bill could pass as a stand-alone measure if it gets through the House Judiciary Committee. "I think there will be plenty of bipartisan support to move it," he said. "And, you know, Tillis is running it over in the Senate." Tillis's office did not respond to a request for comment last week, but he issued a statement when the bill was introduced in March. "Currently, veterans and other victims exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune are running into roadblocks that are denying them their day in court before a jury for the often-crippling and deadly medical conditions they have suffered," Tillis said. "I am proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bring justice for victims and provide a path forward for justice after decades of delay." Asked why it has taken so long for the litigation to move forward, Murphy said: "There was a lot of kickback from the Navy. Totally ridiculous, in my opinion. If the government causes harm or has a problem that needs to be corrected, why do we not just admit it and move on with it?" He added that as a physician he believes "objective science" can be used to determine the validity of claims linking exposure to toxic chemicals to various diseases. "I also believe that people who are injured, and there is science to back up causation, that those people should be afforded relief," Murphy said.
