{"id":3444,"date":"2023-07-28T22:40:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T22:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/?p=3444"},"modified":"2023-09-05T23:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T23:47:41","slug":"latest-camp-lejeune-lawsuit-filing-july-28th-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/latest-camp-lejeune-lawsuit-filing-july-28th-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Filing (July 28th 2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT\r\n                     FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA\r\n                                  SOUTHERN DIVISION\r\n                                   Case No. 7:23-cv-897\r\n\r\nIN RE:                                          )\r\n                                                )       JOINT STATUS REPORT AND\r\nCAMP LEJEUNE WATER LITIGATION                   )    JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF\r\n                                                )     DEADLINES IN INDIVIDUAL CASES\r\nThis Document Relates To:                       )        PENDING THE FILING OF A\r\nALL CASES                                       )   GLOBAL CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER\r\n                                                )\r\n\r\n         Plaintiffs\u2019 Lead Counsel J. Edward Bell III, Plaintiffs\u2019 Co-Lead Counsel &amp; Government\r\n\r\nLiaison Zina Bash, and counsel for Defendant United States of America (the \u201cParties\u201d) respectfully\r\n\r\nprovide this Honorable Court with the following Status Report.\r\n\r\n         In addition to informing the Court of progress already made, the Parties also hereby request\r\n\r\nthat this Court issue an order extending all individual case deadlines in cases filed under the Camp\r\n\r\nLejeune Justice Act (\u201cCLJA\u201d) through September 1, 2023, pending the filing of a proposed Global\r\n\r\nCase Management Order. The proposed order will address, among other things, an imminent\r\n\r\ndeadline for filing a master complaint, a deadline for a master responsive pleading, and other case-\r\n\r\nrelated deadlines pertaining to the prompt completion of discovery and the commencement of\r\n\r\nbellwether trials.\r\n\r\n         The Parties state the following:\r\n\r\n         (1)      Plaintiffs\u2019 Lead and Co-Lead Counsel (the \u201cLeadership Counsel\u201d) have formally\r\n\r\nconvened twice since the July 19, 2023, issuance of Case Management Order 1 (DE 10).\r\n\r\nLeadership Counsel\u2019s meetings have been productive and efficient, and the work of Leadership\r\n\r\nCounsel and government counsel in resolving this matter is underway.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n               Case 7:23-cv-00897-RJ Document 11 Filed 07\/28\/23 Page 1 of 4\r\n\f       (2)      As required by Case Management Order 1, Leadership Counsel will notify this\r\n\r\nCourt of the members of the Plaintiffs\u2019 Executive Committee and Plaintiffs\u2019 Steering Committee\r\n\r\non or before July 31, 2023.\r\n\r\n       (3)      On July 25, 2023, Mr. Bell and Ms. Bash met with government counsel in\r\n\r\nWashington D.C. Many topics of substance and procedure were discussed, and a plan to move the\r\n\r\nCLJA cases towards resolution is taking shape.\r\n\r\n       (4)      In particular, and without limitation, the Parties discussed matters of global case\r\n\r\nmanagement (including the development and filing of a master complaint and short-form\r\n\r\ncomplaint), the creation of a global database and matrix, and a document-request-form process\r\n\r\nthat the government will use to streamline requests from relevant federal agencies to retrieve\r\n\r\nnecessary plaintiff records.\r\n\r\n       (5)      Currently, the government, plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys, and pro se plaintiffs are under\r\n\r\nvarying individual court-ordered deadlines in individual cases to file responsive pleadings, engage\r\n\r\nin individual Rule 26(f) conferences, and prepare individual Rule 26(f) reports.\r\n\r\n       (6)      To allow the government to conserve its limited resources and focus on quickly\r\n\r\nmoving this litigation forward on a global basis, the Parties respectfully request that all responsive\r\n\r\npleading deadlines, discovery deadlines, and all other deadlines in individual CLJA cases in this\r\n\r\ndistrict be briefly extended through September 1, 2023, pending submission by the Parties of a\r\n\r\nproposed Global Case Management Order that will establish a deadline for filing a master\r\n\r\ncomplaint, short-form complaint, and master responsive pleading, among other things.\r\n\r\n       (7)      During the extension, rather than devoting further resources to answering\r\n\r\nindividual complaints and preparing for dozens of individual discovery conferences on a case-by-\r\n\r\ncase basis, the Parties will focus on the global issue of proposing a process for master pleadings\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n             Case 7:23-cv-00897-RJ Document 11 Filed 07\/28\/23 Page 2 of 4\r\n\fthat would supersede individual CLJA complaints and previously filed answers. During this time,\r\n\r\nthe Parties will also negotiate a framework for case management beyond the pleading stage and\r\n\r\ncontinue work on a global database, among other things.\r\n\r\n       (8)      The Parties have already conferred substantially and can submit the contemplated\r\n\r\nproposed Global Case Management Order addressing the deadline for filing a master complaint\r\n\r\nand master responsive pleading on or before August 28, 2023.\r\n\r\n       (9)      The Parties have attached a proposed Order implementing this extension in current\r\n\r\nCLJA cases as well as future CLJA cases, if any, that are filed before a master complaint and\r\n\r\nmaster responsive pleading process is in place.\r\n\r\n       WHEREFORE, the Parties respectfully submit this Joint Status Report and further\r\n\r\nrespectfully request that the Court enter the attached Proposed Order briefly extending all\r\n\r\nindividual deadlines in CLJA cases through September 1, 2023.\r\n\r\n       DATED this 28th day of July, 2023.                   Respectfully submitted,\r\n\r\n\/s\/ J. Edward Bell, III                             BRIAN M. BOYNTON\r\nJ. Edward Bell, III (by special appearance)         Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General\r\nBell Legal Group, LLC                               Civil Division\r\n219 Ridge St.\r\nGeorgetown, SC 29440                                J. PATRICK GLYNN\r\nTelephone: (843) 546-2408                           Director, Torts Branch\r\njeb@belllegalgroup.com                              Environmental Torts Litigation Section\r\n\r\nLead Counsel for Plaintiffs                         BRIDGET BAILEY LIPSCOMB\r\n                                                    Assistant Director, Torts Branch\r\n\/s\/ Zina Bash                                       Environmental Torts Litigation Section\r\nZina Bash (by special appearance)\r\nKeller Postman LLC                                  \/s\/ Adam Bain\r\n111 Congress Avenue                                 ADAM BAIN\r\nSuite 500                                           Senior Trial Counsel, Torts Branch\r\nAustin, TX 78701                                    Environmental Torts Litigation Section\r\nTelephone: 956-345-9462                             U.S. Department of Justice\r\nzina.bash@kellerpostman.com                         P.O. Box 340, Ben Franklin Station\r\n                                                    Washington, D.C. 20044\r\n                                                    E-mail: adam.bain@usdoj.gov\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n             Case 7:23-cv-00897-RJ Document 11 Filed 07\/28\/23 Page 3 of 4\r\n\fCo-Lead Counsel for                       Telephone: (202) 616-4209\r\nPlaintiffs and Government Liaison         Fax: (202) 616-4473\r\n\r\n\/s\/ Hugh R. Overholt                      LACRESHA A. JOHNSON\r\nHugh R. Overholt (NC Bar No. 016301)      HAROON ANWAR\r\nWard and Smith P.A.                       DANIEL C. EAGLES\r\nPost Office Box 867                       NATHAN J. BU\r\nNew Bern, NC 28563-0867                   Trial Attorneys, Torts Branch\r\nTelephone: (252) 672-5400                 Environmental Torts Litigation Section\r\nhro@wardandsmith.com\r\n                                          Counsel for Defendant United States of\r\nLiaison Counsel                           America\r\n\r\n\/s\/ A. Charles Ellis\r\nA. Charles Ellis (N.C. Bar No.: 010865)\r\nWard and Smith P.A.\r\nPost Office Box 8088\r\nGreenville, NC 27835-8088\r\nTelephone: (252) 215-4000\r\nace@wardandsmith.com\r\n\r\nLiaison Counsel\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n          Case 7:23-cv-00897-RJ Document 11 Filed 07\/28\/23 Page 4 of 4<\/pre>\n<p>--------------------------------<\/p>\n<pre>                       IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT\r\n                   FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA\r\n                                SOUTHERN DIVISION\r\n                                 Case No. 7:23-cv-897\r\n\r\n\r\nIN RE:                                        )\r\n                                              )\r\nCAMP LEJEUNE WATER LITIGATION                 )          ORDER EXTENDING DEADLINES\r\n                                              )             IN INDIVIDUAL CASES\r\nThis Document Relates To:                     )\r\nALL CASES                                     )\r\n\r\n\r\n         For good cause having been shown upon the joint motion of the Parties, the Court orders\r\n\r\nthat all responsive pleading deadlines, discovery deadlines, and all other deadlines in all Camp\r\n\r\nLejeune Justice Act cases in this District\u2014including individual complaints filed after the date of\r\n\r\nthis order, if any\u2014are extended until September 1, 2023, to give the Parties time to propose to\r\n\r\nthe Court and for the Court to enter a global case management order.\r\n\r\n         SO ORDERED this _____ day of __________________, 2023.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n RICHARD E. MYERS II                              TERRENCE W. BOYLE\r\n Chief United States District Judge               United States District Judge\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n LOUISE W. FLANAGAN                               JAMES C. DEVER III\r\n United States District Judge                     United States District Judge\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n           Case 7:23-cv-00897-RJ Document 11-1 Filed 07\/28\/23 Page 1 of 1<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA SOUTHERN DIVISION Case No. 7:23-cv-897 IN RE: ) ) JOINT STATUS REPORT AND CAMP LEJEUNE WATER LITIGATION ) JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF ) DEADLINES IN INDIVIDUAL CASES This Document Relates To: ) PENDING THE FILING OF A ALL CASES ) GLOBAL&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/latest-camp-lejeune-lawsuit-filing-july-28th-2023\/\">View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[501,197,201,326,198],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3444"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14423,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions\/14423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsuitlegit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}