Lawsuits seek $250M due to Flint, Michigan, water supply issues
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Friday against state and local officials in Flint, Michigan, is seeking a refund of $150 million in municipal water bill payments made while the water supply was contaminated.
Now the subject of a criminal investigation, the switch to Flint River water by a state-appointed emergency manager, as well as alleged refusal by multiple officials to listen to residents’ complaints about the adverse effects their families experienced, constituted a conspiracy to deny their constitutional rights, contends the suit. The untreated water was corrosive, causing lead to leach from city water delivery pipes. The switch was made in April 2014, and it was not until October 2015 that the city went back to Detroit’s water system, which pulls from Lake Huron.
Representing the plaintiffs along with a local attorney is Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, which successfully represented the family of Freddie Gray after he died in police custody in Baltimore, reports the Detroit Free Press. The Flint suit seeks class-action status.
Meanwhile, Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger on Monday filed a $100 million lawsuit in Genesee Circuit Court over an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a hospital using Flint water, reports MLive.com.
Gov. Rick Snyder and the state Health and Human Services Department have acknowledged a spike in cases after the water supply switch, but the department said it could not definitively be connected to the water supply. Snyder was elected to office in 2010 as a Republican.
“The more I read and learn about this, the angrier I get,” Fieger said. “To save a few dollars, the Snyder Administration poisoned an entire city and thought they could get away with it because those poisoned were poor, and primarily black.”
Representatives of Snyder and the hospital declined to comment on his suit. However, Snyder’s press secretary said the governor “takes the well-being of all of Michigan residents very seriously, and Flint residents are not an exception to that.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “State of emergency declared in Flint, Michigan, over amount of lead in water”
ABAJournal.com: “Suit seeks replacement of lead water pipes in Flint; is sovereign immunity a bar?”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Baltimore agrees to pay $6.4M to family of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody”
