A former congressman once involved in legislation that allows people exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune to be compensated is concerned about the bill's implementation.

Former Rep. David Price of North Carolina says too few people have received settlement offers and the fees by some of the lawyers representing them are too high.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation that allowed people previously exposed to toxic water at the North Carolina Marine base to take legal action against the federal government.

The toxic water that was on the base from the early 1950s to the late 1980s caused an array of illnesses including Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

“This was long overdue business. The bill had been along for a long time,” said Price, who was an original co-sponsor of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.

The bill passed Congress in 2022 as part of the larger bipartisan PACT Act. Price credits former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for attaching the Lejeune bill with the PACT Act.

“I really think under the current situation in Congress I don’t think it would have been done,” Price said.

But since the bill’s signing, the implementation hasn’t gone the way many would have liked.

The deadline to submit claims was Saturday, and as of Aug. 2, the Navy says 385,000 claims were filed, but only 114 settlement offers were extended.

“The record is not good enough. It simply is not,” Price said.

The Navy does say it’s received a significant number of duplicate claims and is working to resolve those. It expects the final number to eventually decrease.

Price said he’s gratified so many people have filed claims but adds the process to obtain compensation must be sped up.

Spectrum News previously reported that some victims sickened by the water have died waiting for payments.

“Justice is delayed is still justice denied for many people … so those responsible for now administering this law, and adjudicating these cases, need to make their needs known and those in government need to make sure those needs are supplied," Price said.

In May, bipartisan legislation was introduced to speed up the pace of the court cases that are separate from the submitted claims.

The Department of Justice says that more than 1,920 people have filed suit in the Eastern District of North Carolina and that it has extended 95 offers to plaintiffs. Forty have accepted settlements, nine were rejected, 22 have expired and 24 are pending.

The bill would expand the jurisdiction of Lejeune cases from the Eastern District to the larger 4th Circuit, which stretches from South Carolina to Maryland. 

The bill would also place a cap on how much attorneys can charge.

Since the Camp Lejeune Justice Act was passed, ads by attorneys seeking to represent victims have flooded the airwaves. One advocate has said he’s heard lawyers charging as high as 50% and 60% of the settlements or judgments.

The new bipartisan bill, called the Camp Lejeune Justice Corrections Act, would place a 20% cap on lawyers fees on any settlement entered before a civil action and 25% of any judgment rendered or settled after a civil action. The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Greg Murphy and Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross, both of North Carolina.

“It’s appropriate to ask, I think, what is the legal piece of this, and what’s the appropriate, proportionate recompense for lawyers who take on these cases,” Price said. “Major legislation almost always needs technical corrections of one sort or another, when you find out what’s working and what isn’t, so I hope Congress can pass this.” 

The Camp Lejeune Justice Corrections Act was introduced in May and has not advanced yet in Congress.