“To amend the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 to make technical corrections.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends Section 804 of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, which authorizes civil actions against the United States for personal injury or wrongful death from exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, notwithstanding certain limitations under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), as follows: (1) strikes from subsection (b) the requirement to file actions in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina; (2) revises subsection (c) to establish the plaintiff's burden of proof as showing a relationship between a contaminant in Camp Lejeune water and the harm suffered, plus presence at Camp Lejeune for not less than 30 days (consecutive or not), with evidentiary standards met by evidence of a causal relationship that either exists or is at least as likely as not; (3) revises subsection (d) to grant exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for coordinated or consolidated pretrial matters, while authorizing transfer to district courts in the Eastern, Middle, or Western Districts of North Carolina or the District of South Carolina for pretrial, trial, and evidentiary motions; to provide for jury trial at either party's request; and to require expedited disposition; and (4) adds subsection (k) to cap total attorney fees at 20% of any settlement before a civil action commences or 25% of any judgment or settlement after commencement (with proportional division allowed between attorneys not in the same firm and agreements for lower fees permitted).
This section establishes the effective date of this Act and its amendments as August 10, 2022—the original enactment date of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 (CLJA)—and applies them to any claim or action under CLJA section 804 (i.e., civil actions for personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death due to exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, from August 1, 1953, to December 31, 1987) that is pending on, or filed on or after, the date of enactment.
This section states that nothing in this Act or amendments made by this Act modifies the applicability or statute of limitations provisions under section 804(j) of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022. (The Camp Lejeune Justice Act authorizes civil actions against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act for personal injury, property damage, or death resulting from exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987.)