Las Vegas is home to a wide range of people, many of whom have come from elsewhere. Not just a destination for gamblers and thrill seekers, Las Vegas is where many people have come to find opportunities and start a fulfilling life. From the nightlife of Fremont street to the suburbs of Boulder City and the solitude of the surrounding Nevada desert, lots of our friends and neighbors proudly served in the armed forces.
Camp Lejeune was the largest Marine base in the United States, and many service men and women, as well as their families, called this base in North Carolina home.
Unfortunately, love for one’s country does not always mean that the ones serving our country are protected. Contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune for several decades hurt many people. Almost an incalculable amount of Americans and their families were nearly forgotten and left to fend for themselves. The recent legislature has set aside funding for those hurt at Camp Lejeune to make it right.
If your station was at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, you need to contact Edward Bernstein and Associates to help you fight for the compensation you might deserve. Our team of Camp Lejeune water contamination attorneys has handled personal injury cases for years, fighting for our clients’ rights against insurance companies, big businesses, and government agencies alike.
Camp Lejeune Cancers and Diseases Guide
- Which Camp Lejeune Cancers and Diseases Are Covered?
- Get the Compensation You Deserve
- How Much Is My Camp Lejeune Case Worth?
- What Should I Do to Start the Process?
- The Changing Laws Regarding Camp Lejeune
- Contact the Attorneys at Ed Bernstein and Associates for Your Camp Lejeune Case
Choose a Personal Injury Attorney That Fights for You
Ed Bernstein and Associates has experience in personal injury that counts. We can work with you to help get you the settlement you deserve. What happened at Camp Lejeune has changed so many lives, and when facing off against the United States government, you need a Las Vegas personal injury attorney who takes a personalized interest in your case.
Here are just a few of the areas of personal injury we have handled in Nevada:
- Asbestos and mesothelioma
- Prescription medication recalls
- Workers’ compensation cases
- Social security
- Construction site injuries
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Camp Lejeune Justice Act cases
- And many others
A Personal Touch for Your Personal Injury Needs
Our testimonials show that our attorneys conduct themselves promptly and professionally. Our team of lawyers, paralegals, and administrative assistants becomes the team you need to handle the details of your case. From the negotiation table with insurers to arguing your case before a judge in a jury trial, hiring us to take on your case will take a lot of stress off your shoulders as you continue to live your life.
Our attorneys can meet in person or virtually as a convenience to our clients. Some clients might struggle with mobility and health concerns due to their Camp Lejeune injuries, and this law firm is there to make things better for them, not worse. We offer free consultations on your case, so you can start your journey to getting justice and compensation that, in the case of Camp Lejeune, has been long overdue.
Which Camp Lejeune Cancers and Diseases Are Covered?
If Camp Lejeune was your station for at least one month between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, you were undoubtedly exposed to many chemicals that several different sources released into the groundwater.
Pollutants included fuel and chemical waste from a dry cleaning disposal facility, and these chemicals would have surpassed acceptable national safety standards for water provided for drinking, bathing, and household use.
Benzine pollutants and other chemicals were 400 times over the acceptable limits for safe use. As a result, they caused at least 23 different medical conditions in nearly a million veterans and civilians living on or near Camp Lejeune. Many assigned to the training camp succumbed to these diseases, and for the first time in decades, their families received damages for their tragic losses.
Here are just some of the diseases, disorders, and medical conditions caused by the contaminated water:
- Pancreatic cancer
- Breast cancer (in both males and females)
- Prostate cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Leukemia
- Lymphoma (including Non-Hodgkin’s)
- Myeloidosis
- Miscarriage
- Bladder cancer
- Parkinson’s disease
- Kidney cancer
- Scleroderma
- Immune disorders
- Congenital disabilities and severe deformities
- Cervical cancer
- Brain and central nervous center cancer
- Liver cancer
- Colon/rectal cancer
- Heart defects
- Lung cancer
- And many others
Get the Compensation You Deserve
Not only have those who served at Camp Lejeune been affected by the contaminated water supply, but also their families. For years the U.S. government ignored the concerns of many people who lost loved ones to strange cancers, diseases, congenital disabilities, and other diseases. Investigations have shown that the VA hospital was often aware of these issues.
Still, under-qualified subject matter experts did not seem to think there was any cause for alarm, and they dismissed the concerns outright. Due to certain statute limitations, the potential claimants could no longer file suit for damages by the time third parties carried out independent investigations. In that time, Marines, their families, and other employees had lost their lives or fell on hard times due to their disabilities and illness.
Legislation in recent years has opened up the gates of opportunity to allow those affected to seek compensation, regardless of the previous statutes of limitation. But time is already running out for many veterans and their families, so you need to seek legal help from an attorney at Edward Bernstein and Associates today.
How Much Is My Camp Lejeune Case Worth?
Depending on the nature of the injury, how it has affected your livelihood, and the damages you seek compensation for, some factors can determine the payment you will be awarded. Your attorney will be able to provide a rough estimate of your case’s potential in case of a settlement.
Here are some damages you can seek regarding Camp Lejeune:
- Medical bills: The diseases inflicted by contaminated water are numerous. Treatment may include surgery, hospitalization, physical therapy, medical equipment such as respirators, transplants, hyperbaric therapy, and anything else needed to treat you or your family for illness related to Camp Lejeune. Those liable need to be accountable for the pain treatment, prosthetics, and other expenses you have spent due to no fault of your own.
- Lost income and future lost income: Illness, rehabilitation, and vocational retraining would have taken their toll on you and your family. Many survivors of Camp Lejeune have suffered economic hardship due to not being covered by VA benefits during their illness. In many cases, they have been unable to work or keep gainful employment.
- Pain and suffering: The physical and psychological trauma incurred by chronic illness, death, and disability are almost impossible to measure. Those responsible need to compensate for the mental and physical aspects of surviving these diseases and the mental anguish due to death.
- Compensation for death: The loss of a child, spouse, or even primary income provider becomes very expensive and heart-wrenching for those left behind. Compensation for an untimely death allows the living to establish themselves with the chance for a better life. Funeral expenses, burial, and other provisions are expensive yet necessary to provide closure and memorial to the living.
- Rehabilitation expenses: In many cases, illness and injury might require a change in a vocation to pay the bills and support a family. While someone trains for a new job, they are likely taking a cut in pay to learn a trade or profession, making it even harder to survive on a limited income.
What Should I Do to Start the Process?
As with many personal injury cases, one of the most important things you can do is document everything. Your medical receipts, paystubs, tax forms, medication bills, and other hard evidence can go a long way to show the damages you seek compensation for.
Keep a journal of your experiences in treatment, daily life, rehabilitation, and even decline to demonstrate the lengthy struggle you have been going through.
Continue your treatments and work on maintaining your health, if not fighting for your life. Stress can complicate your recovery and healing, which is why an attorney is critical in any personal injury case.
You should also hire an attorney to handle your case. An attorney takes the guesswork out of what is required. They can work with you to build an argument for your case and advocate for you during settlement negotiations. Your attorney can use the information you can provide them as leverage in mediation. Depending on the severity of your needs, it gives them a better idea of what can be won in a settlement to help you put your life together or provide for your loved ones if necessary.
Your attorney can also supply you with legal advice and a good idea of an acceptable offer for damages and what might need to be escalated to a trial in front of a judge to win you the settlement you are entitled to receive. Your attorney might also advise you when to stay silent, such as staying off social media and discussing the case with no one else. Your attorney can advise you on how to proceed about speaking with insurance companies, the press, and potential witnesses.
The Changing Laws Regarding Camp Lejeune
Another reason to hire an attorney for your Camp Lejeune injury case, is because of the intricacies of changing laws and the evolution of the process covered by the PACT Act/Camp Lejeune Justice Act.
The Janey Ensminger Act was just the beginning. Passed in 2019 to offer VA benefits and compensation for a handful of diseases, the spirit of this act was expanded to the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which covered significantly more diseases and conditions.
These changes in the law made many reluctant to even file claims for damages, since in previous decades, many Marines, reserves, and National Guard were turned away by the federal government.
The most recent legislation has expanded payouts to victims of Camp Lejeune water contamination from $2 billion in 2017 to $400 billion.
While victims are making progress, getting the compensation they deserve is still difficult when dealing with the red tape and bureaucracy inherent to the system. Most former military personnel are already acquainted with dealing with such a complex system, but an attorney can make your life easier and reduce stress and frustration.
Time is already running out, and new time limits to file a lawsuit are already beginning to reach their deadline. When the government signed the PACT act into effect in August 2022, this opened up the statute of limitations for prior claims for the next two years. August 10, 2024, is the latest deadline to file for damages if you received your diagnosis more than two years prior. Other conditions might affect your deadline even further, so you cannot waste any time and need to start discussing your case with one of our attorneys.
Contact the Attorneys at Ed Bernstein and Associates for Your Camp Lejeune Case
For years, the attorneys of Edward Bernstein and Associates have been winning injury cases for their clients. With one of the most noteworthy legal firms in the State of Nevada, our personal touch in approaching our cases can help take you to the next level when it comes to litigation.
You did not ask for your life to change in this way. You did not want your family to suffer through disease and loss due to no fault of your own. Our clients who served at Camp Lejeune enlisted in the Marine Corps to serve the country they love and provide for their families.
Fighting for compensation is hard enough when facing a big insurance company, so you need one of our attorneys when you take on the federal government. Hiring a lawyer can make it a lot easier. They have the know-how regarding deadlines, statutes of limitations, paperwork to file, and ways to argue your case from the mediation table to a trial by jury if necessary.
Contact us if you need an attorney who will fight for your rights the way you or your loved one enlisted to fight for their country.
Just a few blocks away from Las Vegas Boulevard on East Clark Ave. (across the street from History Fifth Street School), call (702) 840-5103 in Las Vegas. In Henderson, just off Warm Springs Road south of Stephanie Street Shopping Center, call (702) 728-4137; or for our newest location near Cottonwood Canyon in Summerlin, call (702) 830-5233 to set up a free consultation with an attorney today.
“Enough said. Call Ed!”