If you did not retain an attorney, you may have submitted your own claim to the Department of the Navy (“DON”) under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA). While the confirmation email you received contained a great deal of information, some essential information was missing.
For example, the email you should have received stated: “Once your claim submission has been initially reviewed, you will be notified if additional information is needed to ensure your claim submission provides sufficient information to enable the Department of the Navy to investigate your claim.”
What the confirmation does not say is when this review will take place. The DON’s Claims Unit is going to review claims submitted by attorneys on behalf of victims first and then self-represented individuals to determine if they are missing any documentation. As there were over 520,000 claims submitted, it will likely be many months before you may receive a request from the DON Claims Unit to answer questions or ask for additional information.
Importantly, a claim is not considered valid if it is a claim on behalf of someone deceased unless you have obtained a probate court order appointing you to submit such a claim. That process can take months to complete, and if you have not completed it, your claim may not even be considered unless and until you do so.
In addition, all CLJA claims are submitted and reviewed through the “Claims Management Portal.” According to the DON, the claims portal is an electronic system that was “developed for the purpose of processing claims filed pursuant to the CLJA Act and for communicating with claimants regarding the status of their claims.” However, the Claim ID you were provided may not allow you to fully review or even update information for your claim in the Claims Management Portal.
For the Claims Management Portal to be of any use, you need to create an account in the Portal so that you can review and respond to any message or status information sent to you from the DON Claims Unit. It is important to create an account now since, according to the DON, “all claim specific questions and communications both from you and the DON will be handled exclusively through the Claims Management Portal’s message function.”
The email you received laid out all the steps you need to do so. Should any of your contact information change, you also will need to update your profile promptly so you can readily access your file and keep apprised of the status of your claims processing.
In addition, if you filed a claim before the Portal was made available, your actual claims filing date will be different than the date you submitted your claim using another method. This is because the filing date listed for your claim in the Claims Management Portal will only reflect the date your claim file was “migrated” into the Portal by the DON Claims Unit. This is important for you to know, as the time frame for the DON to formally deny your claim may not be what you think it is.
If your claim is denied by the DON (and at this time, they are not formally denying claims) or if you do not receive a decision on your claim within six (6) months of filing your claim, the law allows you to file a civil action in federal court, but only for a limited time. And if you do decide to file such a lawsuit, the early Elective Option you may have heard about may no longer be available to you. You will also need an attorney to assist you, as such claims can only be filed in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina. As a result, you will need to choose your options carefully, and knowing what that deadline is will be critically important when you need to decide.
Attorneys involved in submitting claims for clients under the CLJA are already set up to access the Claims Management Portal, are working with the DON on reviewing the validity of claims submitted on behalf of their clients, and are working now to make sure all claims they have submitted are updated and complete so they will be timely reviewed and considered by the DON.
As you think about the next steps, you may want to consult with attorneys knowledgeable about the CLJA and the Claims Management Portal to review your claim’s sufficiency and options. For a free consultation, please fill out the following form.
