015 Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Class Action Lawsuit

VERONICA: Welcome to lawyers in the house. I’m your host, Veronica Waters. This week we celebrate Veterans Day, 11/11.

MONICA: Hey, Ronnie. We’re known around here as Ronnie and Moni.

VERONICA: Really? You know what I’m thinking? We should get t shirts.

MONICA: We should. Ronnie and Moni tshirts. And what we should say Ronnie and Moni from Montlick.

VERONICA: Ronnie and Moni from Montlick.

MONICA: Well, I was actually called by several firms asking if I would be willing to represent them and to talk about them. And I said no to everybody until Montlick came along.

VERONICA: I have to ask you whether or not people had odd reactions. Oh, my goodness.

MONICA: I heard from a lot of news people who called me and said, quote, I can’t believe you’re doing that. You’re with an ambulance chaser. And that’s when I said, oh, no, no, no.

VERONICA: They’re not working just in the courtroom.

MONICA: No, they’re in the community, too. They’re in the community. And when we delivered those packages. But to me, I guess, if more than anything else is that because, like, our lawyer friend here, Mark, he’s a former serviceman, he’s a Marine.

MONICA: Once a Marine, always a Marine. And I think about how what you went through in the service and how you’re fine. But what about those people who are suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome like my uncle did?

VERONICA: I was going to ask you…

MONICA: After World War II.

VERONICA: …about that.

MONICA: And during that time, there was no service to really help you.

VERONICA: I was in Air Force ROTC at Mississippi State.

MONICA: We do have a lot in common.

VERONICA: We need to put little wings on our T-shirts.

MONICA: We do! But I really think it’s important that veterans who provided so much for us that it’s important for us to be there for them. And that’s one of the emphases in Montlick’s work. And then, of course, what I do for them is a Monica moment, which is just where I get to say whatever I feel.

VERONICA: About whatever’s on your mind that day.

MONICA: Yeah. And I love that. So Montlick and I are joined at the hip.

MONICA: They’re family.

VERONICA: We share core values.

MONICA: Yeah, you do.

VERONICA: We’re going to have Melinda Jeffress, who is Montlick’s director of Media and Community Support, Community Engagement, coming in later to join us and talk a little bit about your journey with Montlick, how that came about and all of the things that you all have done since then.

MONICA: Oh, but the fallen heroes is my walk.

VERONICA: Is that the thing that calls to you the most?

MONICA: I still, when I think about it, tear up.

VERONICA: Yes, they line the route the entire way.

MONICA: But what really gets you when the parents of that fallen soldier is there, when the mother, the children and how proud they are, it puts a face.

MARK: Hello.

VERONICA: Once a Marine, always a Marine.

MAR: Yes.

VERONICA: Do y’all say oorah?

MARK: Yeah, we say oorah.

VERONICA: Can you do it like you say it outside?

MARK: Oorah!

VERONICA: Yeah. There we go. I love it. You’ve been a lawyer since 1993 and you’ve been with Montlick, what, almost four years now, right?

MARK: Almost four years.

MARK: What led me here to this moment? First of all, I was in the Marines at 17 years old. I joined shortly after the Marine Beirut suicide bombing in 1983.

VERONICA: Yeah, and tell us a little bit – how exactly did that happen again, sir? Come on.

MARK: When you’re in the service, you learn how to take orders, and that continues through marriage. So the orders were to go to law school. They were followed to the letter.

VERONICA: And you said, yes, ma’am.

MARK: Yes, ma’am. Like today.

MONICA: It’s called marriage maintenance.

MARK: So many legal jobs, many reputable places I’ve worked.

VERONICA: Yeah, you could have had your pick of firms.

MARK: I had my pick of firms, and I have friends calling me from other firms. And when I interviewed with Montlick, I had the vibe. I had the vibe and because we’re talking about veterans on Veterans Day. Happy Veterans Day.

VERONICA: What was your rank when you left Marines?

VERONICA: Sergeant. Sergeant Molina. Thank you for your service. You’re welcome. I don’t ever know how to say to that because I feel I’m more thankful to the veterans that came before me and the young guys who’ve come after me.

VERONICA: We are also grateful, and I know that. Mark. You were at Camp Lejeune. We’re going to hear from you firsthand about what’s happening at that military base. This is Lawyers in the House with Monica Pearson and Mark Molina on WSB.

VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m your host, Veronica Waters, here with special guest Monica Pearson and retired Marine Sergeant Mark Molina. We’re talking about Camp Lejeune right now.

MARK: I want you to envision a small city where hundreds of thousands of young Marines, old Marines, are cycled through from boot camp through various parts of their career. And like any other city, you live there, you go to school there, you get medical care there. You’re educated, your family lives there, you shop there. All of the things that you do on any city, you do on Camp Lejeune, which is the biggest base, the Marine Corps base on the East Coast.

VERONICA: And we’re talking about a long list of diseases.

MARK: We are available. We need to call 1-800-Law-Need or get on the website to contact us because we have to get your case rolling. We have to confirm that you were on the base or your loved one or anyone that you were in contact with, were there on the base for 30 days.

MARK: Correct.

VERONICA: Yeah. Now, is there a two-year time frame to file a claim from the inception of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, right?

MARK: Correct. I’m concerned about getting you in, getting your case rolling, getting your case signed up so that we can put you in the pipeline and get you – if you or a loved one needs compensation, we can get the process started.

MARK: Not just service members. Because I want you to imagine back the city scope, family members, wives, husbands, loved ones, children, people who visit, all the things that happen on any city happen on the base.

VERONICA: And so now people are fighting for justice for those that they have lost. Some are still living with these conditions and the government is trying to make it right because there was a time when military brass knew about this and covered it up.

MELINDA: Sure, absolutely. Well, my background is actually in media. I worked here at WSB.

VERONICA: Yes, you did.

MELINDA: And I loved what Montlick was doing from a community service standpoint, same thing as Monica. And actually, I had the same response as Monica: why are you going to a law firm, a personal injury law firm, in that fact?

VERONICA: It is something that I have as I’ve gotten to know lawyer after lawyer from Montlick. You see this real passion and commitment to doing right by people.

MELINDA: There’s something special about everyone there at the firm. And to be able to service our clients and know that we’re protecting the people who need us most and their hardest time, but to know that we’re doing it for the right reasons and that’s why we support our military and why we’re here and why we have Mark. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s always about operating at the highest level of integrity. And that’s what our military does.

VERONICA: Operating at the highest level of integrity. Even when nobody’s watching.

MELINDA: Exactly.

VERONICA: Even when nobody’s watching. Camp Lejeune’s lawsuit that we talked about earlier, a lot of people are clamoring for those cases, but Montlick…

MELINDA: No, it’s something that we’ve been doing forever. We’ve been helping people and our veterans with helping for veterans benefit long before something of Camp Lejeune even came up to surface.

VERONICA: Let’s talk a little bit about some of these amazing projects. We can’t get into all of them. Listen, we do not have enough time, trust me. But check out Montlick.com and go to the firm overview and you’ll see so many things, so many proactive programs for safety, but all of these things about our service members, too.

MONICA: I’ve already spoken about mine, which is The Fallen Heroes Walk, which I just think really brings forward to us what veterans have done, what service people have done, and they have given their lives for us to be able to have freedom, but they’ve also done it abroad to help others get what we have.

VERONICA: Tell us what Hope Atlanta entails, Melinda.

MELINDA: Well, you know, Hope Atlanta has a large scope of helping Atlanta and the community, not just veterans, but in particular where we come in as a law firm, is helping those veterans get settled back in a home.

VERONICA: What have you seen this do for folks? And how did you get tied into Hope Atlanta, Monica?

MONICA: Well, it was actually through their former executive director, Jeff Smythe, who I had worked with at Meals on Wheels Atlanta. And he called me one day and basically said, I’m working with this organization. Many of the women are former veterans. Do you think Montlick would be interested?

VERONICA: And so that’s the beginning of connected hope in Montlick.

MONICA: Okay. But it’s you know, Montlick has always been there for the vets. It’s so simple. And you know what? I love Christmas. Hope. And we’ll talk more about that the closer we get to Christmas. But actually packing gifts and taking them to veterans and their families, and I went along for that. And to see these little kids, seeing what they’re going to get, even though, you know, we tried to hide it from them.

MELINDA: It’s part of the Kiss Wish with our radio partnership.

VERONICA: Kiss Wish is so much fun. Every year, the smiles and those photos really tell the story.

MONICA: I would agree, because I’ve been told, you remember the man there was this one man we went to visit at this apartment complex, and he was so excited about the gifts, and he kept saying over and over to us, thank you so much. You really made our Christmas. We wouldn’t have had Christmas if it hadn’t been for you.

VERONICA: We owe such a debt of gratitude to our veterans who have done so much for us, and, as you pointed out, so much for people around the world. America takes her fighting skills and strengths across the world to help make things better for folks.

MELINDA: It’s the least that we can do.

MONICA: And I think that’s what you say. It’s the least that we can do. But to the people who receive what Montlick brings, it’s the most they’ve received. And it’s a lot in a lifetime for them, and they no longer feel invisible. And when you have a firm that says, we care and we’re going to show you by showing up and showing out, then all of a sudden they feel like someone knows they’re there.

VERONICA: Let’s take a little moment and listen to some of the folks who have been touched by Montlick’s actions.

[MONICA]: Good morning, Crystal.

[MONICA]: So you were an Army Navy veteran of 15 years, a mother of two, and married. And you and your family moved here, and all of a sudden you found yourself literally living in a hotel because you were scammed. And then when you looked for services, you had a hard time getting the help you needed. As a matter of fact, they even told you, the only way we can help you is for you to be homeless.

[CRYSTAL]: Hope Atlanta, if I can sum it up in so many words, they really saved my life. Well, Hope Atlanta was that breath of fresh air for me. From the time I walked into the office, I felt like I was somebody. I didn’t feel like a number.

[MONICA]: You are a perfect example of what Hope Atlanta can do. The name is most appropriate. Crystal, thank you so much for telling us your story.

VERONICA: Thank you so much for that. Monica, that was awesome. So, Melinda and Monica, talking about all of the things that Montlick does for service members.

MELINDA: Sure I’ll take that one. Each year, we partner with another television station down in Columbus, and it’s something that we do for the children. Oftentimes we talk about the military, servicemen and women, but we forget about their families. And that’s something with Montlick. We always remember that it’s not just the men and women serving, but it’s their families.

VERONICA: So when the makeover happens, is that like a wish list kind of thing, too? Or do you guys just come in and completely surprise them, and you take over everything?

VERONICA: They’re like little hidden helpers of the family. Now, the firm’s founder, David Montlick, is not in studio with us. It’s just the two Ms and Lady V over here. But I couldn’t help but shout out David because please don’t mind me. I hope you don’t mind. I know you don’t want to toot your own horn, but I’ve learned that David and the firm have received some notable honors from the military itself.

MELINDA: It is, Veronica, as I said at the beginning, none of us do this to and expect to receive an award. We do this out of the kindness of our heart. It’s something that David has done from the beginning of his conception of the firm, but something that he passes down to his children and it’s something that we as a firm pass down to our employees and our community.

VERONICA: More about Camp Lejeune. Thank you so much to Melinda Jeffress and Monica Pearson. The Montlick closing argument is straight ahead.

VERONICA: Welcome back to lawyers in the house this week of Veterans Day here on WSB. So glad to have you with us. I’m your host, Veronica Waters. We’ve had some special guests on a very special show talking about our veterans, our service members living and fallen, and something that’s in the news affecting not just them, but their families.

MARK: Five things you need to know about the Camp Lejeune situation, folks. First, Lejeune is the biggest military marine base on the east coast. So the scope of this runs into the hundreds of thousands of people affected. If you were Marine, know a Marine, date a Marine, chances are they had some connection with Camp Lejeune for 30 days. If that person served 30 days cumulatively, whether 15 days here, ten days there and added up to 30, that makes you eligible.

VERONICA: So, Mark, I just want to make clear we were talking about so many soldiers who came through Camp Lejeune, but what if I lost someone? They’re no longer with us. Or what if I was just a family member of someone there? Or what if I was a civilian groundskeeper who worked there? For example,

MARK: Call us at 1-800-Law-Need.

VERONICA: I know you said you can’t tell how long it’s going to take. Some people might be wondering, though, how much money they might have coming to them. How much am I going to get?

MARK: It depends. Every case is different. Depends on the condition. We got to review your medical records submitted, see what the process entails. And this is all new. The money was just allocated by Congress.

VERONICA: If you don’t start, you can’t finish it.

MARK: That’s right.

VERONICA: All right. Thank you so much. Mark Molina, Melinda Jeffress, special guest star, Monica Pearson here joining us on Lawyers in the House. Don’t forget, you can find us on all things social @MontlickLaw. Make sure you like and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform and check us out on Lawyersthouse.com. You can not only see us, but hear us there and you can submit a question to us.