Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer NewsCamp Lejeune Water Contamination Lawsuit
Between 1953 and 1987, over one million Marines, military contractors, and their families living or working at Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River may have been exposed to toxic chemicals through water contamination. Military officials were aware of the tainted water as early as the 1950s. Still, they chose to ignore it and even failed to warn those on base. Although multidistrict litigation (MDL) was formed to streamline Camp Lejeune water claims, in 2016, a judge dismissed roughly 850 lawsuits under the Federal Torts Claims Act. Later in 2019, the Secretary of the Navy denied all remaining civil claims, which left approximately 4,500 plaintiffs with claims exceeding $963 billion in damages without compensation.
Fortunately, the United States government has decided to acknowledge the rampant water contamination that plagued Marines for over three decades. Once President Biden signs the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, veterans will finally have a chance to seek justice for the harm that they have suffered from the water contamination. This is excellent news for everyone affected by the tainted water, especially the victims previously denied justice. It is believed that this could be one of the most significant water contamination mass tort cases in history.
What Caused The Water Contamination?
In a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit, the plaintiff may be eligible to obtain damages for their losses resulting from a defendant’s negligence. These damages are typically compensatory, meaning that they are designed to compensate victims for their actual injuries. Compensatory damages can be economic and non-economic, such as medical expenses, physical therapy costs, lost wages, property damage, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment, and loss of consortium. 
Being the victim of an accident can be an extremely traumatic event, especially if you have suffered injuries, property damage, or other significant losses. Even seemingly minor accidents can have disastrous repercussions, such as life-long disabilities, permanent disfigurements, complete paralysis, and traumatic brain injuries. Since most accidents are unpredictable and transpire with little to no warning, victims are usually uncertain about their next steps. The last thing any accident victim wants to worry about is filing the proper forms. With a highly experienced personal injury attorney, the legal process after an accident does not have to be overwhelming. 
Suppose you have been seriously injured in an accident because of another’s wrongdoing. You may be eligible to pursue monetary compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. However, to hold the other party financially liable for your damages, you must first prove that they were negligent. Understanding the legal elements of negligence can help you win your Buffalo, New York injury claim. 
Loss of consortium is a term used in personal injury law that refers to the deprivation of the benefits of a family relationship because of injuries suffered in an accident. Under New York law, injured victims may be eligible to obtain monetary compensation for the loss of consortium and companionship. These claims are intended to remedy marital damages that the victim and their spouse have suffered. Loss of consortium claims are generally made when the injuries suffered are long-lasting, devastating, or debilitating. 
Unfortunately, even after an accident victim’s initial pain subsides, they could be left with permanent scarring and other disfigurements. Most scarring is caused by damage to the skin, such as scratches, abrasions, and puncture wounds. Depending upon the severity and location of the scar, it can significantly impact a victim’s ability to work and even perform routine tasks. Besides being a constant reminder of the traumatic injury, even the slightest alterations in a victim’s appearance can bring about overwhelming depression and emotional pain. Victims with scars in prominent places, such as the head, face, neck, or hands often struggle with terrible self-esteem and anxiety. 
Most of us know the frustration of maintaining a busy schedule and rushing to avoid being late for several commitments. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that speed limits are set in place to protect everyone on the road. Driving too fast not only endangers the life of you and your loved ones, but all others in the vicinity, including occupants of other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speeding has played a significant factor in roughly 33 percent of all fatal crashes for the past two decades. In 2019 alone, speeding took the lives of 9,478 victims. In some cases, your safety can be impacted by adhering to the speed limit. This occurs when the posted speed limit is too fast for the given road or conditions, such as during inclement weather, driving after dark, or driving on dilapidated roads. 
Approximately 40 million accident victims require medical treatment for an assortment of personal injuries each year. With numerous types of accident-related damages, some have the potential to drastically alter victims’ lives forever. Most personal injuries result from accidents involving another’s negligence. Unfortunately, negligence can cause innocent victims to suffer severe injuries, which lead to costly hospital bills, rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and lost wages from missing work. 
Crowded buses can easily weigh over 60,000 pounds, while the average car is barely 3,000 pounds. A size difference that lends to bus crashes being some of the most devastating accidents that take place on our roads. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), bus accidents resulted in over 260 fatalities in a single recent year alone. 
Every driver knows that operating a vehicle while impaired or intoxicated is extremely dangerous and illegal. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is one of the biggest traffic safety problems in the country today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 29 victims throughout the United States die in collisions involving alcohol-impaired drivers every day. That is equivalent to 1 fatality every 50 minutes! In New York State, over 40 percent of all fatal highway accidents involve impaired driving. These facts and statistics do very little to show all of the debilitating injuries, life-long disfigurements, tens of thousands of innocent lives cut short, and families devastated because of motorists who got behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs.