Beasley Allen has been at the forefront of the Camp Lejeune Litigation. We have filed thousands of Administrative Claims for those who developed cancer or other health conditions after living, working, or visiting Camp Lejeune.

Our firm is actively working on bellwether cases, collaborating with experts, and preparing individual cases with the evidence required to establish administrative claims and/or succeed in court.

Camp Lejeune Justice Act

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) of 2022 established clear criteria for individuals to pursue claims related to exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. To be eligible, claimants must:

• Been exposed to the water for 30 days or more between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987.
• Suffered harm or illness because of that exposure.

The CLJA also outlines a relatively straightforward burden of proof for claimants: they must show that the relationship between their exposure at Camp Lejeune and the harm they suffered is “sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not.”

Battle Over Causation Continues

Even though the rules are clear, there’s still a legal fight about proving that the water at Camp Lejeune caused illnesses. The court says that to win, you need to show two things: general causation and specific causation. General causation means establishing that a particular illness can be caused by exposure to particular toxins. Specific causation means proving that your exposure to these toxins likely caused your illness.

In the general causation phase, plaintiffs (the people suing) argue that they can prove general causation using different types of scientific evidence. The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants detailed monthly data on the chemicals in the water from 1953 to 1987. They believe the court should decide the minimum levels of these chemicals that could cause diseases.

If the court agrees that there is causal relationship between certain chemicals in the water and the certain health conditions at issue, plaintiffs must then prove they were exposed to those chemicals and that this exposure is “at least as likely as not” the cause of their health condition, considering other risk factors they might have. This is a lower burden of proof than in traditional civil cases.

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