Edition 1:  Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water Commercials

If you’ve been watching cable TV lately, you have probably seen a number of ads from law firms informing the public that the drinking water at the Marine base at Camp Lejeune was 1953 to 1987 was found to be contaminated with industrial solvents and other harmful chemicals which can cause many kinds of cancers and other ailments, especially later in life. They urge you to let them file a claim for you for damages if you believe that you have been harmed by drinking that contaminated water.

On Aug. 10, 2022, the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act was passed by Congress.  A provision of that bill known as the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 allows people harmed by the contaminated water at the camp to file a federal lawsuit to seek compensation for things like medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Pardon my distrust of the biggest ambulance chasing law firms, but I have ask, is a lawyer necessary to file a claim for compensation if someone feel that they have been harmed by the contaminated water at  Camp LeJeune?  

I found that the fact finding website Verify had already researched the question.  Not surprisingly, the answer is that you don’t need a lawyer to file a claim.  In addition, what the ads don’t mention is that the advertising law firms will charge you between 33% and 40% of your government claim settlement if they help you file your claim and it is successful.  

Verify found that it states in the legislation itself that “a lawyer can file on behalf of eligible people, but that people are also permitted to file individually”.  That answer was verified by veterans Administration personnel.  “In fact, the Navy has a process established a process for people filing on behalf of themselves.” (The  CLJA LJACclaim must be made within two years.)

Any individual who believes they are eligible can fill a claim by either:

• Filling out the CLJA claim form and emailing the completed form to the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy’s Tort Claims Unit (TCU) at CLclaims@us.navy.mil. (Be sure to save the form as “LAST NAME FIRST NAME MM.DD.YYYY”  – the date is submission date.)
• Submitting a completed paper copy of the  via U.S. Mail or another carrier to : Department of the Navy – Office of the Judge Advocate General – Tort Claims Unit Norfolk – Attention – Camp Lejeune Claims – 9620 Maryland – Avenue, Suite 205 – Norfolk, VA 23511-2949 

Now the legislation also says you if you believe you have been damaged you can use a lawyer to file your claim.  Of course, every one of the law firms that advertise on TV will assure victims that it would be best for victims to use their services.  However what they really want is a large percentage of the compensation received when a claim is successful for doing very little work.

I can’t for one moment understand how using a law firm to file a claim will increase the probability that the initial claim will be successful.  A law firm is just going submit the very same information that an individual would submit to the government and they will have get that information from the victim who could just as easily use that information to fill out form for themselves.

Rick Guilbeau