Page 12 The Skanner August 23, 2017
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire
T
he United States 6th Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals’ re-
versal of a federal court’s
decision in two lawsuits
filed by Flint, Michigan resi-
dents over the contamination
of their drinking water, has
emboldened lawyers and their
plaintiffs, who said residents
of the predominantly Afri-
can-American city still are be-
ing billed for dirty water they
cannot use.
“The court’s decision means
that the trial court’s dismissal
of the case was legally incor-
rect and the appeals court has
sent it back,” said Nicholas A.
Szokoly, a partner in the Balti-
more firm of Murphy, Falcon &
Murphy, who represents Flint
residents in a class-action suit.
“A lot of our case deals with
the fact that residents in Flint
have been charged three times
the national rate for water,
because the city is trying to
balance their budget and these
charges and fees come at the
exact time that they couldn’t
use the water.”
Szokoly continued: “Not only
did [the bills] come during
the period in which they were
getting contaminated water
and having their children poi-
soned, but the water bills kept
coming and they were told not
to drink the water by an EPA
mandate and they were also
told that if they didn’t pay their
bill, they’d have a lien placed
on their home and face foreclo-
sure. That’s not America.”
In a press release about
Flint’s water system, the Mich-
igan Department of Environ-
mental Quality said that the
latest round of testing showed
that 90 percent of the Tier I
samples from Flint’s water sys-
tem were at or below 6 parts
per billion (PPB), which is less
than half of the 15 PPB federal
action level.
“Flint’s water has tested well
below standards for over a
year,” the press release said.
“Out of an abundance of cau-
tion, residents are encouraged
to use water filters in areas
where construction activities
are taking place to remove ser-
vice lines.”
During a press conference
in late July, Flint Mayor Kar-
en Weaver said that residents
expressed concerns about the
planned closures of a number
of sites that distribute water
“
and galvanized service lines,
it also allows for community
resource sites run by the state
to start shutting down under
certain circumstances.”
In the latest ruling about the
Flint water class-action law-
suit, the court overturned a
lower federal court ruling that
dismissed the suit filed in 2015
on behalf of tens of thousands
of Flint residents against Sny-
der, the city of Flint and city
officials, who were involved in
deciding to switch to the Flint
River as its water source.
A three-judge panel reversed
that decision, while dismissing
the possibility of seeking pen-
alties for Snyder in one case,
the state of Michigan, the state
Department of Environmen-
A lot of our case deals with the fact
that residents in Flint have been
charged three times the national
rate for water, because the city is
trying to balance their budget and
these charges and fees come at the
exact time that they couldn’t use the
water
filters, bottled water and test-
ing kits.
Weaver said that she shared
those concerns with Michi-
gan’s Governor Rick Snyder.
“The future of the nine Flint
water distribution sites has
been the subject of speculation
since the state settled a lawsuit
with the Concerned Pastors
for Social Action and others,”
MLive.com reported. “While
the settlement guarantees the
replacement of 18,000 lead
tal Quality and the Michigan
Department of Health and Hu-
man Services.
The decision allows the plain-
tiffs to seek relief from Snyder
in another case in the form of
compensation for education,
medical monitoring and eval-
uation services for ongoing
harm from Flint’s contaminat-
ed water crisis, according to
the Detroit News.
The court allowed cases seek-
ing financial damages against
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
News
Appeals Court Says Flint Water Lawsuit Can Continue
A recent court ruling cleared the way for tens of thousands of Flint residents to
continue their lawsuit against Michigan state and local officials.
individual state employees,
the city of Flint, city employees
and state-appointed emergen-
cy managers to proceed.
Attorney
General
Bill
Schuette and his legal team
have pursued criminal and
misdemeanor charges against
or accepted plea deals with 15
people including former Flint
employees and former and
current state officials, as well
as two former Flint emergency
managers appointed by Sny-
der, a Republican.
The class-action lawsuits
involve Flint residents who
experienced personal injury
and property damage from the
Flint River decision, after they
were exposed to toxic lead that
leached from the city’s pipes
into the water supply.
Emergency managers made
the decision to switch to the
Flint River, and state officials
and local officials failed to use
corrosion control chemicals
that would have prevented the
lead leaching, according to The
Detroit News.
The plaintiffs alleged that
their constitutional rights
were violated and that they
were deprived of “the equal
protection of the laws, or of
equal privileges under the
laws,” according to the court’s
opinion.
The lower court ruled that
the Safe Drinking Water Act
stopped the plaintiffs from
seeking damages, but the ap-
peals panel ruling allows U.S.
District Judge Judith Levy to
continue weighing the issue.
Szokoly said that political
shenanigans have dominated
the case.
“Earlier, the city told us they
would issue a moratorium on
collection actions that result-
ed in liens and foreclosure,”
Szokoly said. “For reasons that
I still don’t quite understand,
the state jumped in on the
city’s behalf, so that didn’t go
anywhere.”