The Camp Lejeune Lawsuit Racket
How Democrats rigged a legislative payoff for trial lawyers.
From Today's WSJ.
"Any American watching TV in recent months has seen the avalanche of trial-lawyer ads offering to represent Marines exposed to chemicals at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune. Here’s the back story on how Democrats in Congress turned a bipartisan effort to aid sick Marines into a new bounty for trial lawyers.
In August President
Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, which provides compensation to veterans and family members exposed to toxic substances. This includes lawsuits brought by those exposed to chemicals in the water from 1953 to 1987 at Camp Lejeune. Yet even as the bill removed the government’s ability to defend against suits, it eliminated caps on trial-lawyer fees. The tort bar is now preparing to cash in, leaving Marines with little and taxpayers with a ridiculous bill.
This was no accident, as the legislative history makes clear. In 2012 President Obama signed legislation providing federal health dollars to Camp Lejeune veterans who might have been affected by exposure. More recently a bipartisan group in Congress worked on fixing technicalities in federal and state law that denied some plaintiffs the ability to successfully sue the government for compensation.
Rep. Matt Cartwright (D., Pa.) introduced the first such bill in early 2021 with 163 co-sponsors. Because that legislation made it easier to win lawsuits, it included a fee cap of 20% if claims are adjudicated out of court, and 25% if it goes to trial. This matches fee caps in the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the standard route for suing the feds for injury.
Yet in late 2021 North Carolina Republicans Thom Tillis and Richard Burr—longtime proponents of Camp Lejeune payouts—joined Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Gary Peters to introduce a new version without fee caps. Mr. Cartwright quickly followed in the House. Federal disclosure forms show that tort heavyweights such as the Bell Legal Group employed a bevy of lobbyists in 2021 to help pass the Camp LeJeune legislation.
Democrats then stuffed the provision into the House PACT Act to shield it from debate or amendments. Senate Democrats rejected pleas to allow modifications. This included demands from the Biden Justice Department for a no-fault compensation fund—to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation—and fee caps of 2% to file claims and 10% if a lawsuit proved necessary. Senate Democrats ignored this and blocked GOP amendments.
This has set the stage for a gigantic taxpayer-funded transfer of wealth to Democratic trial-lawyer donors. The Congressional Budget Office initially estimated the Camp Lejeune legislation would cost $6 billion, but the bill has no limit on payouts. The Navy recently told Members of Congress that it has already fielded 20,000 cases, and the minimum claim is for $10 million. That’s $200 billion.
Under the law, payouts will be offset by federal health benefits provided via Medicare or Veteran’s Affairs—so amounts could end up lower. Yet the Navy expects 100,000 cases to be filed within the law’s two-year window and the total cost could be hundreds of billions. Veterans report trial lawyers are charging them 40% or more in contingency fees, in addition to filing and paperwork fees and expenses. Democrats have set up their trial-lawyer benefactors to siphon money from sick veterans.
And for doing very little work. The point of the Camp Lejeune bill was to limit the federal government’s ability to offer a defense. The legislation strips from the government the immunity provided under the Federal Tort Claims Act. It lowers the burden of proof necessary to show harm from “more likely than not” to “as likely as not.” And it allows litigants the right to a jury trial—where awards are likely to be higher. One reason the FTCA has caps of 20% and 25% is so taxpayer-funded awards go primarily to victims, not attorneys.
***
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan made these point and more as he asked unanimous Senate consent in December to stop the bilking and impose the fee caps that Justice recommended—2% and 10%. His legislation has support from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin—a long-time trial-lawyer protector—objected, claiming caps would deny Camp Lejeune victims “good lawyers.” Mr. Durbin continues to block changes.
This is a scandal in plain sight, and it’s also an indictment of rushed bipartisan governance. The $667 billion PACT Act was rife with problems, yet Democrats brought it up shortly before the election and dared Republicans to oppose veterans’ benefits. The GOP was aware of the tort-lawyer loophole, but 34 Republicans in the House and 34 in the Senate voted for the PACT Act anyway. Taxpayers and Marines are paying the price, and the GOP shouldn’t rest until they’ve fixed this trial-lawyer ripoff.
