Court Sets Discovery Pool for Track 1 in Camp Lejeune Water Litigation
In an effort to streamline case management, the court ordered the first 5 conditions to go through discovery in the Camp Lejeune trials.
"Staging discovery and trials by ''tracks" of illnesses is the most efficient way to advance the CLJA litigation and support a global resolution of CLJA claims. The staging approach in this Order comports with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court's inherent powers. See, ~' Link, 370 U.S. at 630-31; Fed. R. Civ. P. 1, 16(c)(2){L), 42(a)(3). The staging approach also recognizes that this Court has four United States District Judges and a heavy docket of CLJA and non-CLJA actions. "Â -Case Management Order No. 2 Camp Lejeune Water Litigation
The first conditions to be tried are:
If you recall, the original proposed case management orders, this list matches the plaintiffs proposal and the governments proposal didn't include Bladder Cancer or non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in their proposed Track 1.
The government's elective option has 4 out of 5 of these conditions as Tier 1, which means there is multiple supporting evidence linking the conditions to the toxins in the water at Camp Lejeune. The only condition that is Tier 2 is Parkinson's disease, which is perplexing since there was a new study that came out this year linking Parkinson's to the water.
Considering the government's agreement that all these conditions meet the standard set forth in the Camp Lejeune Justice act more likely than not being caused by the toxic water, I am not sure what Discovery will focus on - other than perhaps the damages, harm, and how different exposure times impact the severity of the conditions.
Many of these conditions have payout projections going into the 7 figures, and already have settlement offers in the mid six figures, I would hope this puts pressure on the government to start making realistic offers that match the significant harm they caused and covered up.
The game plan for the trial is that plaintiffs will fill out short form complaints, and if there are more than 20 with a specific illness, the plaintiffs will pick 10 cases and the government will pick 10 cases, and those will go through discovery and/or trial. If there are less than 20, than all will be part of the discovery pool for that condition.
For the many other victims suffering from other conditions, the court also ordered that within 60 days, the two sides must submit their next 5 conditions for track 2 discovery pool.
The court order on September 26th outlined a bunch of other deadlines as well, and mentioned the court is considering appointing a settlement master.
This order is good progress in moving these cases forward, but for the many victims who have been waiting to file their administrative claims, now is the time to speak to an attorney. The government will sneakily try to convince people to take settlements far below the damages actually caused, like they did in the elective option, which doesn't account for any damages, just exposure length and condition.
Hopefully, as progress is made, we'll start seeing justice being served.
