Toxic water claims at US base top 500,000

The deadly contamination at Camp Lejeune could be the biggest case in history

More than half a million people have sought compensation from the US military for damages caused by contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Reuters has revealed.

Dangerous chemicals were first discovered in the water supply of the North Carolina facility in 1982. According to the US government, the contaminated water may have affected an estimated million people with conditions such as kidney cancer, bladder cancer and leukemia between 1953 and 1987.

The US Navy has received more than 546,500 claims for compensation, Reuters reported on Wednesday citing a court filing. The number could go up or down by “a few thousand” after the Navy goes over the claims to remove duplicates.

Administrative claims had to be filed by the August 10 deadline to make the plaintiffs eligible to receive compensation. The deadline was set by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, signed into law exactly two years prior.

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The Navy said it was reviewing each claim and “is committed to resolving every valid CLJA claim as fairly and expeditiously as possible.”

So far, more than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed in a federal court in North Carolina by plaintiffs whose claims were not resolved administratively. The first trials may begin next year. Only about 150 cases have been resolved through administrative procedure as of early August, the Navy said in the filing.

Should all the administrative claims go to trial, that would make the Camp Lejeune water case the largest claim to damages since the 3M earplugs scandal, Reuters noted. 

The Minnesota-based company had made the protective equipment for the US military that was widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015, but left many troops complaining about hearing loss. Eventually, more than 390,000 filed claims against 3M, in what was described as the “largest multidistrict litigation” in history. Last year, 3M paid $6.01 billion to settle the 260,000 or so remaining claims.