Camp Lejeune Neurobehavioral Effects Lawsuit: Claims and Causation

If you’re pursuing a Camp Lejeune neurobehavioral effects lawsuit, you’re on a longer road than most other claimants. Neurobehavioral conditions are not among the nine illnesses covered by the government’s fast-track settlement program, so compensation generally has to come through litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina rather than a quick administrative payout.¹

What Counts as a Neurobehavioral Effect

“Neurobehavioral effects” is a broad category. A 2015 Institute of Medicine committee defined it to include diseases, disorders, symptoms, and deficits affecting the nervous system and behavior, on the view that individual findings in these areas can signal deeper neurological problems.²

Conditions and symptoms identified in the scientific literature as associated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) exposure include:

Memory loss, trouble concentrating, confusion, and impaired executive function
Depression, tension, bipolar disorder, and mood swings
Poor coordination, hand tremor, increased postural sway, slowed reaction time, and deficits in contrast sensitivity and color discrimination
Parkinson’s disease
Fatigue, headache, dizziness, and sensory disturbances

The IOM committee concluded that deficits in visuomotor function, motor function, and concentration best characterize the long-term neurobehavioral effects of solvent exposure.³ Evidence for ALS, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease was deemed insufficient to establish an association.² Parkinson’s is a special case: it appears both here in the neurobehavioral literature and separately as one of the nine conditions covered by the Elective Option settlement program.⁴

Why the Elective Option Doesn’t Cover These Claims

In September 2023, the Department of Justice and the Navy launched the Elective Option, a fast-track settlement program with payouts from $100,000 to $450,000 based on illness and length of exposure, plus an additional $100,000 for cases involving death. It covers nine specific illnesses: kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, bladder cancer, multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease, kidney disease or end-stage renal disease, and systemic sclerosis or scleroderma.⁴

Neurobehavioral effects are not on that list. The program was built around conditions the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) rated at the “equipoise and above” evidence level, and conditions that require more intensive individualized investigation were left out. The DOJ and Navy have said they are “continuing to develop additional frameworks for resolving CLJA matters,” but no expansion covering neurobehavioral effects has been announced.¹

Your Paths to Compensation

Two options exist. You can keep your administrative claim with the Navy open and wait to see whether the government develops a new settlement framework that includes neurobehavioral conditions. Or you can file a lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina once your administrative claim has been denied or six months have passed without a decision.⁶

One boundary worth knowing: the August 10, 2024 deadline to file an administrative claim has passed, and no new CLJA claims are being accepted.⁷ These paths are available only to people who filed before that deadline.

The Causation Fight That Will Shape These Cases

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act requires plaintiffs to show a relationship between the contaminated water and their illness “sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not.”¹ Congress took that language directly from the 2008 Institute of Medicine classification system the VA uses for presumptive benefits.⁸

What that language means is contested. Plaintiffs argue it requires only general causation — proof that contaminated water is capable of causing a type of illness — because exposure occurred 35 to 70 years ago and many records are lost. The government argues the statute still requires individualized proof that contaminated water caused a specific plaintiff’s illness.⁸

For neurobehavioral claims, the outcome of this dispute is decisive. If the plaintiffs’ interpretation wins, claimants can rely on the IOM and ATSDR reports establishing a group-level association between solvent exposure and neurobehavioral harm. If the government’s interpretation prevails, each claimant will need individualized expert testimony addressing their specific exposure and alternative risk factors — a heavier and more expensive lift for conditions with many possible causes.

The Scientific Evidence You’d Be Building On

A 2009 National Research Council report found “limited/suggestive evidence” connecting occupational solvent exposure to neurobehavioral effects, and noted that even the lower exposure levels detected at Camp Lejeune “may be of some concern for effects on neurotoxicity.”⁹ The 2015 IOM committee went further, applying a “benefit of the doubt” standard and recommending that clinical guidance for Camp Lejeune veterans and families include Parkinson’s disease, neural tube defects, bipolar disorder, and adolescent or adult illicit drug use among the neurobehavioral outcomes potentially linked to exposure.³

Some of the strongest epidemiological support comes from outside Camp Lejeune. Epidemiologist Ann Aschengrau and colleagues tracked roughly 4,000 people born between 1969 and 1983 to mothers in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where PCE had leached into water from vinyl-lined pipes.¹⁰ The IOM treated these studies as the primary source of evidence on psychological outcomes from early-life PCE exposure, citing “good scientific plausibility” and a demonstrated dose-response relationship.³ The researchers found moderate associations between prenatal PCE exposure and bipolar disorder, illicit drug use, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and more modest links to diminished contrast sensitivity, reduced visuospatial ability, and slower motor speed. The most heavily exposed group had roughly 2.7 times the bipolar disorder risk of the unexposed group.¹¹

Camp Lejeune-specific evidence continues to build. A 2024 study in Movement Disorders examined 172,128 Marines and Navy personnel stationed at the base between 1975 and 1985, identifying 270 who later developed Parkinson’s disease. The 177 exposed to contaminated residential water at levels above 50 times the EPA limit had significantly faster disease progression, with roughly double the rate of psychosis, fractures, and falls compared to unexposed veterans, and a statistically significant dose-response relationship for falls.¹²

VA Benefits Are a Separate Track

Don’t confuse the lawsuit with VA benefits. The VA recognizes neurobehavioral effects as one of 16 conditions qualifying veterans for cost-free health care under the 2012 Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act.¹³ But neurobehavioral effects are not among the eight conditions the VA treats as presumptively service-connected for disability compensation. Veterans seeking disability benefits for a neurobehavioral condition must file a claim the VA reviews individually.¹⁴

Filing a CLJA claim doesn’t affect eligibility for VA disability or health care benefits, and accepting an Elective Option settlement for a different qualifying condition doesn’t offset or create a lien on VA benefits.¹⁴ Court awards are treated differently and can be offset against VA benefits tied to Camp Lejeune exposure.¹

Where the Litigation Stands Now

By the August 2024 deadline, 408,860 administrative claims had been filed with the Navy, and more than 3,700 lawsuits are pending in the Eastern District of North Carolina before four federal judges.¹⁵

As of March 2026, the DOJ had approved 2,531 Elective Option settlement offers totaling roughly $708 million, with individual payouts ranging from $100,000 to $550,000.¹⁶ By February 2026, 1,554 of 2,353 approved settlements had been accepted, averaging just under $300,000 each.¹⁵ That leaves the overwhelming majority of the 408,000 claims unresolved. The government has also identified roughly 100,000 duplicate claims filed by multiple firms for the same claimant.¹⁷

About two dozen bellwether cases are headed for trial, potentially later in 2026, and the judges overseeing the litigation have consistently ruled against government motions.¹⁵ Proposed legislation from Rep. Greg Murphy and Sen. Thom Tillis would amend the CLJA to allow jury trials and expand venue beyond the Eastern District of North Carolina; as of mid-2025 Murphy’s House bill had 32 co-sponsors and Tillis’s Senate companion had five, but neither had cleared committee.¹⁸

For neurobehavioral claimants, the outcome of the bellwether trials, the causation ruling, and any new settlement framework the DOJ develops will decide how these cases are resolved. Until then, the case sits in court, and it is likely to take longer than a claim for one of the nine Elective Option conditions.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claims
2
National Library of Medicine. Review of the Department of Defense’s Approach to Medical Research on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses
3
National Library of Medicine. Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune, Chapter on Neurobehavioral Effects
4
U.S. Navy. Public Guidance Elective Option CLJA
5
6
U.S. Navy. Claims Submission Process
The litigation route is more demanding. To prevail in court, you will generally need expert testimony establishing both general causation (that the chemicals can cause your condition) and specific causation (that they caused your condition). You may also need to identify which of the three contaminated water systems — Tarawa Terrace, Hadnot Point, or Holcomb Boulevard — served you, and you must account for alternative risk factors. Court awards, unlike Elective Option settlements, are also subject to offsets for VA disability benefits related to Camp Lejeune exposure.5U.S. Department of Justice. Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claims
7
U.S. Navy. Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claims
8
Camp Lejeune Court Info. Memorandum in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
9
National Library of Medicine. Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune: Assessing Potential Health Effects
10
Boston University. Cape Cod Water Poisoning
11
National Library of Medicine. Prenatal and Early Childhood Exposure to Tetrachloroethylene and Adult Vision
12
Movement Disorders. Parkinson’s Disease Progression and Exposure to Contaminated Water at Camp Lejeune
13
VA.gov. Camp Lejeune Water Contamination
14
VA.gov. Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Eligibility
15
Roll Call. Victims of Camp Lejeune’s Tainted Water Inch Closer to Amends
16
U.S. Department of Justice. Department of Justice Approves Historic Number of Settlements for Camp Lejeune Victims and Families
17
Public Radio East. Significant Developments in Both Litigation and Administrative Claim Processing in Camp Lejeune Water Cases
18
Roll Call. Murphy, Tillis Gain Support for Bill on Camp Lejeune Litigation