The US Navy is facing roughly 546,500 administrative claims for compensation from people affected by toxic water at Camp Lejeune, a federal court said Tuesday.
The count was revealed by a status report in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The Navy is reviewing the claims for duplicates, the filing said. More than 385,000 had been filed as of Aug. 2, and the government was bracing for a last-minute surge before the Aug. 10 filing deadline.
The bill that became the Camp Lejeune Justice Act was passed in 2022 to provide compensation for people sickened by the water at the North Carolina military base. The law set up an administrative process that requires claims first to be filed with the Department of the Navy, which has six months to adjudicate each one. If no settlement is reached, plaintiffs can sue in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
- Officials have estimated that as many as 1 million veterans, workers, or their relatives who lived or worked at the base were exposed to the water
- Anyone who lived on the base for 30 days or more from 1953 to 1987 and contracted diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s can file claims
- Congress has projected the government payout could exceed $21 billion.
The case is Camp Lejeune Water Litig. v. United States, E.D.N.C., No. 7:23-cv-00897, 8/21/24.
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