Camp Lejeune is the home to many war veterans and their families. However, there was a problem with this military base. Camp Lejeune’s water supply was contaminated with harmful chemicals from 1953 to 1987, leading to severe health issues among the individuals who lived there and consumed the contaminated water during that time.
Men, women, and children experienced the suffering on a massive scale. If you are one of the victims of this incident, it’s important that you fight for your compensation. To pursue this goal, you need to first file a Camp Lejeune Lawsuit. It’s important for you to know what rights you have under the VA Claims Act and what resources are available to help you get those benefits.
Here are four steps to help make navigating through this complex process easier:
Step 1: Initiate Your Claim
The first step in the process is to submit a claim. You are required to file a claim before you can ask for any compensation, including your medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses. Additionally, hiring an attorney or any other kind of representative would make this step easier for you.
Under the law, all military personnel who were stationed at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987 can claim compensation. Moreover, veterans who lived there between the said period but were not exposed to contaminated water may still receive benefits if they have a pre-existing condition that was aggravated by exposure at Camp Lejeune or if their family members suffered exposure-related illness and died as a result of it.
Step 2: Gather Your Documentation
Now that you’ve received your claim registration number, it’s time to collect the relevant documentation that would be needed during the process. The more accurate information you can provide about your military service, health issues, and medical history, the more likely you are to get an approved claim.
For instance, if you have a family member who lived at Camp Lejeune during their time in the service and they developed cancer or other severe health issues that are linked with water contamination on base, then it’s better to include that information in your claim with supporting documents.
Step 3: Wait for Approval and Claim Processing
Once you submit all the relevant documents and complete the claim form, your claim will be reviewed by the VA. The VA officers will determine whether or not your claim fulfills all of the eligibility requirements and if it should be granted. If they approve your claim, they will send you a letter stating that it has been approved.
You should wait to receive the final call about your claim from the VA within 90 days. After that, you can check the status of your claim by going to the VA website and entering your claim number into their system. However, if you don’t receive any communication about your claim within a year, then it’s better to call the VA’s office directly.
If your claim is denied, then it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no hope for getting benefits from the VA. You can appeal their decision if necessary to try to get them to change their decision about how their program has affected you or someone close to you.
Step 4: The Award Decision
On the fourth step, you will receive a letter telling whether you are getting paid or not.
This means that the Board has decided whether or not to pay your claim. If they decide to pay it, they will send another letter with details of how much money they have decided to award and when they will pay it out. Moreover, they will also help you by giving instructions about how to get paid.
If the Board decides against providing compensation, then you can go with any of the two options:
- You can appeal the decision by sending in new evidence that supports your claim; OR
- You can file an injury claim in federal court for review.
Conclusion
The process of navigating the process of Camp Lejeune’s claim can be challenging and frustrating. This is especially true if you are a novice in the law world because it can be difficult to know where to start and even more difficult to understand how different legal options for Camp Lejeune water contamination works.
Hence, it’s important to find a good lawyer before proceeding further, as he will help you through this complicated system. An experienced lawyer will perfectly handle every aspect of your case and make sure that everything runs seamlessly from beginning to end. In this article, we have given four practical steps to make the whole process easier for you – allowing you to save both time and money.
