A bipartisan team in Congress is pushing regulations to try to expedite the rate of more than 1,800 lawsuits brought against the government for damage caused by years of polluted drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N. C., with 11 co-sponsors as of Thursday, may expand the conditions of a 2022 rules that gave victims of the contaminated water the right to seek damages and allow plaintiffs to obtain jury trials in addition to a February choice by four North Carolina federal judges that they would hear the cases themselves.
And a costs sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis, R- N. C., that passed the Senate by majority acceptance on June 4 do offer free service to soldiers and attorneys who need “guidance and guidance on any illness awards, payments, or benefits” in the Camp Lejeune dispute.
According to the Department of Defense, as many as a million people, mainly Marines and family members, were exposed to poisonous chemicals in the base’s drinking water from 1950 to the middle of 1980.
At least 232, 890 operational claims have been filed with the Navy and more than 1, 800 have been filed in federal court in North Carolina since the law was passed in August 2022, according to the Camp Lejeune Claims Center, an advocacy group for veterans who have been exposed to the pollution.
Along the filings seek trillions of dollars in damage, according to the Justice Department, but the says center says only 58 communities totaling$ 14.4 million have been made since September, when the DOJ offered bills of between$ 100, 000 and$ 550, 000 depending on the health implications reported.
The DOJ and plaintiffs ‘ attorneys are awaiting decisions on which circumstances will be heard second, many of which may be asking for higher rewards than what the authorities offered.
The lead counsel for defendants in the dispute, Ed Bell of the Bell Legal Group in Georgetown, S. C., said he is cheerful some tests will start by the end of the year. The lawyers are now selecting 25 bellwether cases, with five for each of the” Tier 1 diseases” established in court proceedings so far: kidney cancer, liver cancer, non- Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia and bladder cancer, he said.
‘ Hallmark’ of the system
After the federal judges ruled that Congress did not clearly define that right when it passed the law two years ago, allowing those harmed by the contamination to file damage claims with the Navy and then lawsuits in federal court if those claims were n’t resolved in six months, a key component of the House bill is to allow plaintiffs to request jury trials.
” We have to have at least an ability for veterans, if they wish, to go in front of a jury and tell their story”, Murphy said in an interview. ” I think that’s a hallmark of the American judicial system”.
Murphy’s bill would also allow victims to file lawsuits in 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— rather than just in North Carolina’s federal courts as specified in the 2022 law.
As the DOJ advised when it released the settlement plan last fall, it would establish limits on attorneys ‘ fees. These limits would not apply to lawsuits filed in court, but they should not exceed 20 percent for administrative claims.
” As with some of these big bills, sometimes it needs technical corrections”, Murphy said. This bill eases some of the pain that some people experienced with their right to access and attorneys fees. I believe it has a good chance of passing because of how well we worked it in a bipartisan manner.
He added that the Senate bill and the House bill could be combined. Murphy said,” I’m sure we can come to an agreement where hopefully we can offer relief to the veterans.”
Bell said passage of the legislation, particularly the House bill, “would change the dynamics” of the litigation process.
A partner in Bell’s law firm, Eric Flynn, echoed that assessment. Outside of the passage of the 2022 law itself, Flynn claimed,” This is the single most significant piece of legislation.” It would provide more money to more veterans more quickly.
Bell and Flynn argued that the government is intentionally stifling plaintiffs ‘ claims by filing numerous motions and contests in an effort to lower the government’s compensation costs as more and more contamination victims, many of whom are elderly, pass away from serious illnesses.
” It seems to me this is a game to them”, Bell said. They are” trying to find every way they can to obstruct the process and refuse to pay the workers.” And our group has an average of 1.5 to 2 people die each day. We actually hear about a dozen or so deaths per week.
He continued, noting that the majority of plaintiffs are more focused on holding the government accountable than on compensation. ” Most of these Marine families, they want to help others, and they want to have some answer from the government: ‘ Why did they do this to us?'” Bell said. ” It never has been about the money”.
Asked whether he believes the government is stalling, Murphy said,” I think that’s a valid concern. Hence, we would n’t be having to do some of these other things to basically force our own government’s hands”.
He continued:” I ca n’t speak to motivation. I can only address the reality that our government has been very slow to facilitate that compensation because it has been decided to these veterans that they would be entitled to compensation for their injuries.
Murphy continued, noting that Camp Lejeune’s issues have been minimized for decades by the Defense Department.
” This entire incident began because the Navy essentially cleared its hands of what was happening with the veterans,” according to Reuters.” This was a huge, missed opportunity that we could have had to come clean and move forward. Instead, it had to drag out longer”, he said. I sincerely hope those cases are decided much quicker. It’s not right for our veterans. By putting things off, we’re not doing our veterans any justice.
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