With more than 93,000 lawsuits filed against those responsible for the decades-long water contamination at Camp Lejeune, the Navy and the DOJ (Department of Justice) have made a settlement offer to victims.
The new offer, called the Elective Option, allows qualifying people to receive a certain payout faster than having to fight the government in court for several months or even years with no guarantee of success. The payouts range from $150,000 to $450,000 — with an additional $100,000 offered if the exposure resulted in a death.
Claimants can review the offer and reject it within 60 days if they so choose. This would not affect their pending lawsuits. While there is no “one size fits all” solution to this tragedy, the settlement offer is one in which each family affected by the contamination will have to review and make an informed decision.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that up to 900,000 service members were potentially exposed to the contaminated water. The diseases include kidney, liver and bladder cancer, leukemia and Parkinson’s disease.
Two contaminated wells at Camp Lejeune closed in 1985, but sailors, Marines, families and civilians on the base had already been exposed to the contaminants for decades, according to government studies.
We will review the offers with each of our clients if they choose the “Elective Option” to determine if the offer makes sense and brings some semblance of justice and closure to years of pain and suffering.
