If each case in the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination lawsuit went to trial independently, it would take the four U.S. District Court of Eastern North Carolina judges 1,900 years to get through — around the same time span of the Roman Empire.
That’s according to District Judge James Dever, who presided over Wednesday’s first hearing in the class-action suit filed by the Marines and their families who were harmed by the toxic water at Marine Base Camp Lejeune.
Dever made it clear that this litigation will advance quickly, and Trial Attorney Mikal Watts with Camp Lejeune legal agreed that urgency is needed.
“This thing's going to get moving. It's going to become a rocket docket, which is what it needs to do because our clients, because the exposure was so long ago, are up there in age and they can't wait around the lawyers to dig around for years and years and years and years,” he said, “They need their money now.”
Jerry Ensminger lost his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, to leukemia linked to the contamination and has been fighting on her behalf years.
“Holy Heck, it's already been 26 years for me. I mean, yeah, what's a few more years?" he said, "But I would like to see this stuff get resolved sooner rather than later, and it was very encouraging to hear Judge Devers today put that that into motion.”
After Ensminger took his fight before the U.S. Congress for years after he discovered the water was tainted, fatally for some, Janey’s Law was signed by President Barack Obama in 2012; it allows those who served aboard Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between 1953 and 1987 and their family members to file claims with the VA for illnesses caused by exposure to toxins found in the base’s water supply during those years.
Last August, President Joe Biden signed the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Act; it allows people to sue and recover damages for harm from exposure to the contaminated water if they spent at least 30 days on base, including those who were in-utero and born by mothers who drank the water, between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987.
People have just two years to file those claims.
Previous coverage:
"Lejeune baby" advocating for justice for those injured by toxic water aboard Camp Lejeune
Erin Brockovich speaks out for justice for victims of toxic water aboard Camp Lejeune
