CEO & Managing Partner at DeMayo Law Offices,
and Community Advocate
Michael A. DeMayo is the founding and managing partner of DeMayo Law Offices, LLP (DLAW) and DeMayo Law Group, PLLC (exclusively focused on the Camp Lejeune Litigation). Since opening our Personal Injury, Consumer Protection, and Complex Mass Torts Law Practices over thirty years ago, his vision statement has been squarely focused on putting the needs and interests of our clients and team members first. He explains that he had a very simple and understandable vision for his plaintiffs’ law firm from day one, “Put our clients’ and team members’ interests first, and everything else will follow!”
Mr. DeMayo understands that the world is a rapidly changing place and that technology coupled with social media drives both perception and “reality” for much of our society. Often justice and equality does not balance out for individuals when in competition against powerful corporate interests, and sometimes the only option for many is to turn to DLAW as the equalizer. DLAW’s role and responsibility is holding powerful industries and corporations accountable to individuals for the harm they cause. Our mission is to represent individuals and family members that have suffered serious catastrophic personal injuries and significant economic loss or have been killed as a result of the negligence and damage that it has caused. Mr. DeMayo reminds us that it’s a right that we all have to live free from harm and injury. Moreover, when big companies put “profits over people”, bad things happen! DLAW ensures that we hold those that cause the harm accountable because after all: “A right without a remedy is just a suggestion™!”
Mr. DeMayo understands that everyone that comes to DLAW is a victim: individuals injured in serious automobile accidents or tractor trailer cases, catastrophic personal injuries, groups of people harmed by medical devices, dangerous and defective pharmaceutical products, chemical exposure cases, brain injury and wrongful death lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims, mass tort litigation, and more. Mr. DeMayo and DLAW have been recognized for their work in the Carolinas and across the Nation. Our unique team of dedicated attorneys, paralegals, and medical professionals have been consistently recognized as the leaders in Personal Injury and Consumer Law. Over the years, the DLAW team has grown to over 130 legal professionals. Our experienced team has helped over 132,000 individual clients and their families from across the United States recover over One Billion Dollars ($1,000,000,000.00) in total verdicts and settlements for their cases.
Our main office is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, but we have additional locations in Hickory and Monroe, NC as well as Columbia, South Carolina. We plan to open expansion offices in Eastern North Carolina in the near future. Additionally, DLAW and DeMayo Law Group, PLLC maintains established co-counsel and collaborative relationships with over 50 national and regional law firms across the country allowing us to assist individuals with their Mass Torts, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, and Camp Lejeune Cases in almost every jurisdiction across the country.
Memberships
Mr. DeMayo’s associations and early interests set the standard for his life’s mission of being a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised or those with limited access to exceptional legal representation.
Founding member of the Mecklenburg Trial Lawyers Association
NCAJ President’s Club
NCAJ Leaders Forum
AAJ member
Leaders Forum Patron
AAJ, Eagles PAC
Chairman of AAJ Marketing Committee
“Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the AATL
9 consecutive yearsMartindale-Hubble rated 5.0
For the last 15 yearsMr. DeMayo and DeMayo Law Offices are consistently selected as top 5% Law Firms
For customer satisfaction and service since 2014Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Mr. DeMayo was one of the youngest attorneys in North Carolina to obtain a settlement or verdict in excess of One Million Dollars under 35 years of age (Catawba County, 1998) only a few years after opening DeMayo Law Offices.
Education
Mr. DeMayo is a graduate of Wake Forest University, cum laude (1987), and the University of North Carolina School of Law-Chapel Hill (1990). He’s been a member of the Wake Forest University Alumni Council and Wake Forest University Executive Board. He’s a current member of the UNC- Chapel Hill School of Law 1834 Society. He’s a past member of the Board of Directors for UNC-School of Law (Chapel Hill) and a current select member of the Dean’s Committee on Trial Advocacy at UNC-Law School. He currently serves on the Davidson Parents Council, Cornell Parents Board, and the USC Marshall School of Business Parents Council.
Admissions
North Carolina
- Western District of North Carolina
- Middle District of North Carolina
- Eastern District of North Carolina
United States Supreme Court
Accomplishments
Rated AV Preeminent (5.0 of 5.0 Stars)
Named as a top 100 Trial Lawyer for the past 12 consecutive years by the National Trial Lawyers.
Named the Nation’s Top One Percent for several years by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
In addition to his many legal accomplishments, in 2003 the Charlotte Business Journal named Mr. DeMayo as one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Businessmen” in the Charlotte Metropolitan region.
Co-author of Carolina Injury Law: A Reference for Accident Victims, a book written to provide general information and references about personal injury claims for individuals who have been injured in an accident.
Frequent speaker and presenter at: AAJ, NCAJ, Trial Lawyers Summit, M&L, and MMG Seminar Co. for attorneys.
Served on the Wake Forest University Alumni Council.
Member of the 1834 Society.
Served as a Committee Chairman of the Development Committee and on the Board of Directors for the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Law.
Active and generous supporter of Providence Day School (PDS), including Membership in the 1970 Society (Innovators Circle) and the Cornerstone Society (Leadership).
Donated to PDS over One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) and was honored by the naming of an academic building: The DeMayo Gateway Center.
Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Eastern North Carolina.
Countless Marines, their families and civilians who lived and worked at the base from August 1953 to December 1987, were exposed to the deadly contaminated water supply. As a result of this exposure these people developed numerous cancers and other serious conditions making them below may be eligible to file a Camp Lejeune lawsuit.
Mr. DeMayo along with the DeMayo Law Group, PLLC (DLAW Group*), a team of lawyers and staff dedicated to working exclusively on the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Litigation have been active participants in this litigation since before the Camp Lejeune Justice Act was signed on August 10, 2022. DLAW Group are members of a large, strategic group of notable national Mass Torts Law Firms and Attorneys who have been leaders in and participated in some of the largest national Mass Torts and Class Action cases in the country. In addition, Mr. DeMayo and Mr. Carl Solomon participated on behalf of DeMayo Law Group, PLLC clients early in the evaluation and initial conversations with the DOJ in efforts to present settlement models and grids to effectuate resolution. Our strategic group collectively represents over 100,000 individual cases. DeMayo Law Group represents many thousands of Marines and their family members that are currently being litigated in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Currently, there are approximately 129,000 individuals who have filed claims with the Department of the Navy seeking help for their Cancers, Health Conditions and in some instances, deaths caused by contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. As our clients and others have been waiting for decades for their plight to be acknowledged, much less addressed. Until the Justice Act, many victims had no recourse or ability to get the answers they long deserved. Now that there is a remedy and an allocation of resources to make the victims whole, the Navy has short-changed the victims yet again with a proposal that does not provide adequate compensation for their service and health.
Everyone agrees that our Veterans need to be treated fairly and not as second-class citizens. The Marines and other victims deserve to have their medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses covered on what they have already spent on their health and will likely have to continue to spend for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the continuous high level of pain and suffering that they have and will continue to endure from the different cancers and health conditions caused by the toxic water supply at Camp Lejeune.
What is Fair?
When Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) in 2022, it required the Navy to set up a claims administration process to compensate the victims as the first step to let victims settle their cases without the need of going to court. Currently, the Navy has settled 3 total cases using the Elective Option (EO) out of 129,000 cases that have been administratively filed!
There is a two-year time Statute of Limitations on all of these cases. While progress has been made on a Master Complaint and Short Form Complaint, time is quickly ticking away. The Master Complaint was filed on October 6, 2023. Discovery has been organized into specific “tracks” based on the types of diseases involved. Specifically, Track 1 focuses on bladder cancer, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The selection of diseases to be litigated in Track 2 and Track 3 will be proposed by the parties and determined by the Court at a later date. DLAW Group is actively reviewing our cases for potential bellwether cases.
The Elective Option. A quick settlement opportunity offered by the Navy.
The Justice Department and Navy recently announced a voluntary Elective Option (EO) to “quickly resolve” Camp Lejeune cases through expedited payouts. While a fast track has some appeal, at the end of the day, it’s anything short of fair and reasonable compensation. The victims who have waited for more than 30 years will be extremely disappointed in this “option”. First, we must clearly recognize that the Elective Option is a greatly reduced offer to settle in exchange for a “quick payment” and waiver of some but not all the government liens. There still could be outstanding private insurance coverage liens and potential Medicare Advantage, State Medicaid, and Medicare Part C plan liens that would have to be deducted from this quick hit settlement offer. Beware, this offer is specifically targeted at people who are desperate or just tired of this case.
In addition, the claim requirement still requires certified medical documentation that goes back over 60 years which can be difficult, especially when the Navy has all the records. There is currently a 120-day backlog on requests for Military records, and sometimes can take even longer to obtain this information.
Significantly, the elective offer does not use any of the traditional measurements of loss or damages that a jury would be allowed to consider including pain, suffering, out of pocket medical care, lost earnings and earning capacity, and children or dependents, among others. There is an additional death benefit if the victim’s death was related to toxic exposure, but $100,000 is not an adequate measure or compensation for the Value of a Lost Life. The damages offered in the elective option fails to account for the severity of the injuries sustained by the victims, and it ignores the fundamental concept of damages that our court system and law provide. It is a quick hit offer, much like what insurance companies offer at the start of a big case to “buy off” a case/claim cheap if the victim is uneducated or unrepresented by a lawyer. It might be a good start but, in our opinion, it is inadequate to compensate the victims that it covers and while there will be some victims who elect to accept this low and quick payment, for whatever reason, we will not recommend it to our clients.
At this time, the offered elective option values are disappointing, and do not work towards a successful resolution of a group of cases without some significant but reasonable adjustments. DLAW Group will continue working on our cases, accepting new cases, and working towards a reasonable resolution, while the litigation continues onward.
Should you have any questions, require additional information, or wish to discuss specific client cases, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Your continued support and collaboration in these important cases is greatly appreciated.
DeMayo Law Offices, LLP and DeMayo Law Group, PLLC
In addition to the DLAW Group’s Camp Lejeune cases, DeMayo Law Offices continues active representation of victims in their cases for:
* Talc
* 3M
* Paraquat
* Roundup
* Hernia Mesh
* Boy Scout Abuse Cases
* Other Mass Torts (see demayolaw.com for a full list of our Mass Tort cases).
*(Mr. DeMayo and the DLAW Group have scaled a separate law firm to handle the largest and most important North Carolina litigation in our lifetime: the Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Contamination Cases. DLAW Group is uniquely positioned to handle this inventory of individual cases because of our experience and location in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. DeMayo has assembled an infrastructure or uniquely qualified lawyers, and the right personnel for each stage of this litigation. We have taken painstaking efforts to ensure that every detail and step of the process and procedure has been mapped out to maximizes recovery for each individual claimant.)
Community Service
In addition to his many accomplishments and honors, Mr. DeMayo has also earned recognition and accolades throughout the region for his commitment to community service programs including his signature programs to combat underage drinking and driving, feeding the less fortunate, and numerous other charities and organizations. Mr. DeMayo has seen countless injuries and deaths due to drinking and driving collisions and is committed to trying to make the community a safer place.
In 2003, as a direct result of his personal experiences, Mr. DeMayo developed and initiated his own program: “Arrive Alive®”, an outreach program to educate teenagers about the dangers and consequences of underage drinking and driving. The firm has delivered its “Arrive Alive®! Don’t Drink and Drive” message to thousands of teens in the local areas the law firm has served for a number of years.
In conjunction with this initiative, the firm has also awarded over Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($650,000.00) in college scholarships to graduating high school seniors through the Michael A. DeMayo Arrive Alive Scholarship for the last 20 years. Every year, the firm awards fifteen $2,500 scholarships to students who create presentations or write essays on how to prevent underage drinking and driving. Through this scholarship program, DLAW and Mr. DeMayo aim to try to prevent accidents caused by underage drinking and driving by encouraging teenagers to make smart decisions.
Personal Life
Mr. DeMayo loves being a plaintiffs’ attorney. He can’t imagine doing anything else. He dreams of building a legacy firm that will thrive for generations into the future. Mr. DeMayo is a single parent to four very different young adults, and he enjoys the challenge of his family. He describes it as an “ever-changing dynamic of activity and personal interaction.” He believes that his personal life is a great training tool for his legal career and credits his resilience and perseverance to living with his lovely children. His daily experience with them requires creativity, adaptability, and an openness to problem solving with new and unique situations.
When asked about his life outside the office, Mr. DeMayo says,
“It’s on-the-job training for all the different types of people and situations that I encounter being a personal injury lawyer and entrepreneur. I want to believe that it positively influences my perspective and demeanor and makes me a more patient and sympathetic advocate. Moreover, I believe my active lifestyle and people-centric life makes me more sensitive. I think this allows me to directly relate to my client’s needs, expectations, and objectives on a more personal level.”
- Michael A. DeMayo
Awards
Mr. DeMayo and the trial lawyers at his firm hold numerous awards, memberships, qualifications, and certifications. Mr. DeMayo and all the of the North Carolina lawyers at DeMayo Law Offices are licensed in the Eastern Federal District Court. A variety of DeMayo Law Offices attorneys are:
Best Law Firms - 2025
DeMayo Law Offices, LLP has been named a Tier 3 firm in Charlotte for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®.
AVVO Clients' Choice Award 2023
The Clients’ Choice badge is awarded to attorneys who receive five or more 4+ star reviews in a calendar year.
Rated AV Preeminent 5.0 of 5.0
The highest professional rating achievable from Martindale-Hubbell, a national organization that rates attorneys and law firms.
Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Program*
One of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Its members have won million, multi-million, and billion dollar cases.
Million Dollar Advocates Program*
One of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Its members have won million, multi-million and billion dollar cases.
Super Lawyers
Super Lawyers is a rating service for outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
Brain Injury Association of North Carolina
The Brain Injury Association of North Carolina strives to create a better future for the approximately 208,000 North Carolinians living with brain injury through prevention, support, education, and advocacy programs.
Brain Injury Association of America
The Brain Injury Association of America’s mission is to advance awareness, research, treatment, and education and to improve the quality of life for all people affected by brain injury.
ABOTA Certified Lawyers
ABOTA is an invitation-only organization. Members must have at least five years of active experience as trial lawyers, have tried at least 10 civil jury trials to conclusion, and possess additional litigation experience.
The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100**
An invitation-only professional organization composed of the premier trial lawyers from each state or region who meet precise qualifications as civil plaintiff and/or criminal defense trial lawyers.
Footnotes
*Membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements. Criteria for membership in Million Dollar Advocates can be found by clicking here. DeMayo Law Offices does not represent that similar results will be achieved in your case. Each case is different and must be evaluated separately.
**The National Trial Lawyers is a national organization composed of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers from each state. Membership is obtained through special invitation and is extended only to those attorneys who exemplify superior qualifications, leadership, reputation, influence, stature, and profile as trial lawyers, both civil plaintiff and criminal defense. More information can be found at the National Trial Lawyers website by clicking here. DeMayo Law Offices does not represent that similar results will be achieved in your case. Each case is different and must be evaluated separately.
