II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 907
To amend the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 to make technical
corrections.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. T
ILLIS(for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 to make
technical corrections.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Justice for 4
Camp Lejeune Victims Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE CAMP LEJEUNE 6
JUSTICE ACT OF 2022. 7
Section 804 of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 8
(28 U.S.C. 2671 note prec.) is amended— 9
(1) in subsection (b)— 10
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(A) by striking ‘‘in the United States Dis-1
trict Court for the Eastern District of North 2
Carolina’’; and 3
(B) by inserting ‘‘, including a latent or 4
potential harm,’’ after ‘‘appropriate relief for 5
harm’’; 6
(2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol-7
lows: 8
‘‘(c) B
URDENS ANDSTANDARD OFPROOF.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The party filing an action 10
under this section shall be entitled to appropriate re-11
lief upon showing— 12
‘‘(A) the existence of 1 or more relation-13
ships between the type of contaminant in any 14
water at Camp Lejeune and the type of harm 15
suffered by the individual, including latent or 16
potential harm; and 17
‘‘(B) that the individual was present at 18
Camp Lejeune for a period of not less than 30 19
days, whether or not consecutive. 20
‘‘(2) E
VIDENTIARY STANDARDS .—To meet the 21
burden of proof described in paragraph (1), a party 22
shall produce evidence showing that the relationship 23
between exposure to any level of contaminants of a 24
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type in any water at Camp Lejeune and the type of 1
harm is— 2
‘‘(A) sufficient to conclude that a causal 3
relationship exists; or 4
‘‘(B) sufficient to conclude that a causal 5
relationship is at least as likely as not.’’; 6
(3) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol-7
lows: 8
‘‘(d) E
XCLUSIVEJURISDICTION ANDVENUE.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The United States District 10
Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina 11
shall have exclusive jurisdiction and venue for co-12
ordinated or consolidated pretrial administrative and 13
procedural matters and resolution over any action 14
filed under subsection (b). 15
‘‘(2) T
RANSFER.—A party filing an action 16
under subsection (b) may transfer such action to 17
any district court of the United States situated with-18
in the fourth judicial circuit for pretrial and trial of 19
such action, including the adjudication of all evi-20
dentiary motions. 21
‘‘(3) J
URY TRIAL.—Any action against the 22
United States under subsection (b) shall, at the re-23
quest of either party to such action, be tried by the 24
court with a jury. 25
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‘‘(4) EXPEDITED DISPOSITION .—The court 1
shall advance an action filed under subsection (b) on 2
the docket, and expedite the disposition of such ac-3
tion to the greatest extent possible.’’; 4
(4) in subsection (e)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘latent 6
disease’’ and inserting ‘‘latent or potential 7
harm’’; and 8
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert-9
ing the following: 10
‘‘(2) H
EALTH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS RE -11
LATING TO WATER EXPOSURE .— 12
‘‘(A) C
LAIMS SETTLED BEFORE FILING .— 13
An award to an individual, or legal representa-14
tive of an individual, under this section that is 15
made pursuant to a settlement entered before a 16
civil action under subsection (b) is commenced 17
shall not be offset. 18
‘‘(B) C
LAIMS RESOLVED AFTER FILING .— 19
An award to an individual, or legal representa-20
tive of an individual, under this section that is 21
made pursuant to a settlement entered or judg-22
ment rendered after a civil action under sub-23
section (b) is commenced shall be offset to the 24
extent permitted by applicable law by the 25
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amount of any disability award, payment, or 1
benefit provided to the individual, or legal rep-2
resentative— 3
‘‘(i) under— 4
‘‘(I) any program under the laws 5
administered by the Secretary of Vet-6
erans Affairs; 7
‘‘(II) the Medicare program 8
under title XVIII of the Social Secu-9
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.); or 10
‘‘(III) the Medicaid program 11
under title XIX of the Social Security 12
Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.); and 13
‘‘(ii) in connection with health care or 14
a disability relating to exposure to the 15
water at Camp Lejeune.’’; and 16
(5) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(k) A
TTORNEYFEES.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The total amount of attor-19
neys fees under this section shall be in an amount 20
that is not more than— 21
‘‘(A) 20 percent of any settlement entered 22
into before a civil action under subsection (b) is 23
commenced; or 24
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‘‘(B) 25 percent of any judgement ren-1
dered or settlement entered into after a civil ac-2
tion under subsection (b) is commenced. 3
‘‘(2) D
IVISION OF FEES.—A division of a fee 4
under paragraph (1) between attorneys who are not 5
in the same firm may be made only if the division 6
is in proportion to the services performed by each 7
attorney. 8
‘‘(3) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 9
this subsection shall prohibit an individual or the 10
legal representative of an individual and such indi-11
vidual’s or representative’s attorney from agreeing to 12
a fee award that is less than the maximum percent-13
age specified in paragraph (1).’’. 14
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 15
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 16
take effect as if enacted on August 10, 2022, and shall 17
apply to any claim or action under section 804 of the 18
Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 that is pending on, 19
or filed on or after, the date of enactment of this Act. 20
SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 21
Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 22
Act shall be construed to modify the applicability or stat-23
ute of limitations provisions under section 804(j) of the 24
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Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 (28 U.S.C. 2671 note 1
prec.). 2
Æ
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