Camp Lejeune Justice Act

Hundreds of military veterans and their families were on Capitol Hill this week, demanding an end to what they call a cruel government bottleneck. They are pushing for the passage of the Ensuring Justice for Camp Lejeune Victims Act, a bipartisan bill meant to bypass bureaucratic delays. Four years after Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, the initial historic law to compensate those poisoned by toxic base water, fewer than one percent of the more than 400,000 claims have been resolved.

In a brief filed this week in a North Carolina federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice argued that plaintiffs are trying to bypass statutory mechanisms designed to prevent "double-dipping" on disability benefits and court awards. Meanwhile, hundreds of military veterans and family members harmed by the toxic water prepare to gather on the U.S. Capitol lawn for a two-day demonstration that begins on Wednesday.

The two-day demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday, is intended to pressure lawmakers to pass reform legislation that would bypass a massive government bottleneck currently stalling more than 400,000 cases.

The Lejeune Justice Project is mobilizing to force federal policy to catch up with modern science. Founded by Marine spouse Lauren Merrell, the organization’s fight is born from the harrowing medical ordeal of her husband, Luis Martinez Junior. He was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune from 1984 to 1987. The base stands as one of the worst public drinking water contamination disasters in American history.

Mike Morrill served in the United State Marine Corps for six years, from 1983 to 1989, and was stationed at Camp Lejeune for the majority of that time. He’s one of more than 400,000 people still trying to get compensation under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of the Navy after being sickened by contaminated water aboard the base.

H.R. 4145, known as the Ensuring Justice for Camp Lejeune Victims Act, was meant as a “course correction” for the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, to clarify that those sickenedd by the toxic water aboard the eastern North Carolina Marine Corps base have the right to jury trials, and the legislation would also lower the burden of proof for plaintiffs. But since June of last year, the bill hasn't moved an inch out of committee. For the thousands of veterans and families waiting on their day in court, the delay is frustrating.

The ruling comes after Dr. Julie Goodman submitted what she called “corrections” to her findings—updates that included nearly 300 changes to her analysis of dozens of medical studies.

Last week, the Department of Justice Civil Division announced that nearly 650 Elective Option – or settlement - offers have been approved in the past three weeks, and there have been just over 2,500 approved settlement offers since 2023. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said he’s proud of the work done to speed up the approval process in the past year. However, advocates Mike Partain and Jerry Ensminger, whose tireless research and congressional testimony turned personal tragedies into the legislative momentum behind the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, said it would take about 429 years before the Navy gets through all the claims at the current pace.

Under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, the government can offset a victim's payout based on certain federal benefits already received. However, lawyers for the Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group argue the government should not consider future benefits or payments from programs like TRICARE, which they contend are not covered by the law.

“We were living at Geiger Trailer Park, which were these little bitty trailers that I think Eleanor Roosevelt had arranged for World War II vets to live in,” she said, “And when we found out that we would get a house in Tarawa Terrace, we were so excited about it, because then we could get out of the little bitty trailer."