On March 10, 2026, the Department of Justice Civil Division announced the approval of 649 Elective Option (EO) offers in the past three weeks, totaling $175 million, under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.
The press release states that the Department of Justice has paid more than $421 million in EO settlements since 2025 to compensate service members who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. This brings the total approved settlement offers since the 2023 announcement of the EO to 2,531, totaling more than a half billion dollars (approximately $708 million).
The EO program was designed to serve as an off-ramp to litigation, creating a faster and easier way for those with qualifying illnesses to settle their claims and avoid the cost and time-consuming nature of litigation. Payments to an individual claimant under the EO range from $100,000 to $550,000 and are available to qualified claimants regardless of whether they were present in a part of the base that received contaminated water.
Election Option (EO) Program Explained
However, not all claimed health conditions qualify for consideration under the EO program. Rather, the EO may only be offered for the following health conditions that have been linked to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune:
- Kidney Cancer
- Liver Cancer
- Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
- Leukemias
- Bladder Cancer
- Multiple Myeloma
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Kidney Disease / End Stage Renal Disease
- Systemic Sclerosis / Systemic Scleroderma
If you have not been diagnosed with one of these medical conditions, you are not eligible for EO consideration.
Additionally, a claimant must meet the EO program's latency requirements to be eligible under the EO program. This requires that the claimant be diagnosed with a qualifying health condition within 35-years of their last exposure to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune. For example, a Marine who was exposed to the contaminated water at 20 years old must be diagnosed with a qualifying injury by age 55 in order to qualify under the EO program.
Claimants who are offered an EO settlement typically have round 60 days to accept and sign it, depending on the specific terms laid out in the offer. If the EO is accepted, the claimant is barred from filing any future lawsuit for additional damages for any harm or losses related to water contamination at Camp Lejeune.
Is the Camp Lejeune Elective Option Right for You?
An EO offer may be in the best interest of some claimants, but there will likely be many more other who will not benefit from it based on the strict eligibility requirements, such as latency, and the limited number of medical conditions.
Furthermore, claimants who suffer from multiple compensable medical conditions due to the contaminated water may not be fairly compensated under the EO program, which limits recovery to only a single injury.
Claimants who accept EO offers forfeit their right to use another claim or lawsuit to pursue further damages. Whatever you get in the settlement would be all you could ever get for the harm Camp Lejeune’s toxic water has done to you and your family.
Before you sign a Camp Lejeune Elective Option settlement offer, talk to Military Justice Attorneys and do it quickly. You likely have 60 days or fewer to either accept the offer or request a reconsideration for a better offer. Contact Military Justice Attorneys as soon as possible, so we can help you review the Elective Option settlement offered to you and decide if it is fair before any legal time limits expire.
Why do so many people nationwide pick Military Justice Attorneys for legal counsel?
- We are a veteran-owned and operated law firm that specializes in the representation of active-duty service members and veterans.
- At MJA, ALL our attorneys were active-duty Marines. To us, this is personal.
- Our attorneys have more than 100 years of combined legal experience and have committed their lives to fighting for service members and their families.
To learn more about the Camp Lejeune Elective Option, or to get help deciding if you should accept a settlement offer, call (843) 773-5501 right away.
