Court Urged To Press Forward With Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Deadlines During Government Shutdown

Lawyers indicate that the need for a timely settlement of Camp Lejeune injury lawsuits is more important than ever, given the large and aging population of claimants injured by contaminated water at the base.

Due to the current government shutdown, which has temporarily furloughed all federal employees, U.S. attorneys have asked for the Court to stay all deadlines in lawsuits over water contamination at Camp Lejeune, until government workplaces reopen.

Last week, Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to agree on a bill to fund the government, meaning that the government has shut down until the impasse can be resolved. During that time, all government workers have been placed on leave, or furlough, except for those positions critical to national defense and infrastructure.

The shutdown comes as the U.S. government is in the process of defending itself from nearly half a million administrative claims and lawsuits involving dozens of different injuries believed to be caused by exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, a U.S. Marine Corps training base in North Carolina.

The flood of litigation came after the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) was signed into law in August 2022. The law provided a two-year filing window for individuals who lived, served or worked on the base from the mid-1950s to late 1980s to seek financial compensation for various types of cancer and other ailments linked to toxic chemicals that contaminated the base’s water supply. However, despite an elective settlement option for Camp Lejeune lawsuits announced in September 2023, very few claims have been resolved.

Four different U.S. District Judges in the Eastern District of North Carolina are currently overseeing the litigation, including Richard E. Myers II, Terrence W. Boyle, Louise W. Flanagan and James C. Dever III.

To help gauge how the court may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be presented throughout thousands of claims, the four judges are preparing groups of claims involving different categories of injuries for early trial dates.

However, on October 1, the U.S. government filed a motion (PDF) calling for the judges to put a stay on the litigation, which would pause all activities and motions until two weeks after the current government shutdown ends. The motion also seeks to delay current deadlines in the litigation for 30 days. The motion notes that counsel for the U.S. is currently prohibited from working during the shutdown, even a voluntary basis.

Plaintiffs answered the request with a response in opposition (PDF) to the stay on October 3, urging the Court to push forward with the litigation. They argued that resolution of the litigation has been delayed far too long already, leaving hundreds of thousands of claimants, many of whom have debilitating diseases and a shortened lifespan, waiting for their claims to be resolved.

“Given the number of claimants impacted by the need for continued progress in the CLJA litigation, and the time that already has passed since the plaintiffs were exposed to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, the undue burden and delay demonstrate that a stay of this matter cannot be justified.”

– Plaintiffs’ counsel, In Re: Camp Lejeune Water Litigation

Plaintiffs counsel point out that if the court orders the litigation to move forward, the government must comply even with the furlough in place. Such an order would “constitute express legal authorization for the activity to continue,” they argue.

Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Bellwether Trials

The judges’ decision in this issue could have a significant impact on when the Camp Lejeune lawsuit bellwether trials are held, depending on how long the government shutdown lasts. The last one, which occurred from December 2018 to January 2019, lasted 35 days.

Originally, the Court established a Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Track 1 criteria in October 2023, in which the parties selected a group of 100 cases to go through early discovery involving the following five categories of injuries:

• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Leukemia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

The Court then directed the parties to narrow the list to 25 claims that will be eligible for trial, including five cases from each of the five injury categories, with plaintiffs selecting three of the claims and the U.S. government selecting the other two.

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not be binding on other claims in the litigation, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the cases, as the average amounts of any Camp Lejeune lawsuit payouts awarded may help the parties in global settlement negotiations for various types of injuries.

Sign up for more legal news that could affect you or your family.