Victims of past water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune are not entitled to jury trials in their lawsuits seeking damages from the federal government, four U.S. District Court judges in North Carolina said in a ruling Tuesday.
The judges said Congress did not clearly delineate a right to jury trials when it passed the 2022 law allowing those harmed by the contamination to file damage claims with the Navy and then lawsuits in federal court if those claims were not resolved within six months.
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which is part of a broader law called the PACT Act, “does not unequivocally, affirmatively, and unambiguously provide plaintiffs the right to a jury trial in actions seeking relief,” the judges wrote. “Moreover, in the CLJA, Congress did not clearly and unequivocally depart from its usual practice of not permitting a jury trial against the United States. Thus, the court grants defendant’s motion to strike the jury trial demand in plaintiffs’ master complaint.”
