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FLINT, MI – A federal judge has approved a sealed financial settlement between four Flint children and a former engineering consultant who worked here before the Flint water crisis.
US District Court Judge Judith E. Levy approved the settlement in four separate orders filed Tuesday, Dec. 20, identifying the children only by their initials and saying the settlement reached by their attorneys was fair and that each is in the best interests of the child.
Last week, an attorney for the company — Lockwood Andrews & Newman — told MLive-The Flint Journal that the company had agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the cases “to avoid the significant costs, expenses and time of another long trial.” .
Both LAN and Veolia North America, another water consultant hired by the city during the water crisis, were sued by the children in litigation that resulted in the first civil trial to determine the companies’ responsibility for elevated levels of lead and bacteria. was designed to do. Flint Water in 2014 and 2015.
The six-month trial, presided over by Levy, ended in a mistrial in August after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked and could not reach a verdict in the case.
By settling the case with the children, Lan will avoid the costs associated with rehearing the case in 2023.
Lain was retained by the city of Flint as a consulting engineer in 2013 and continued his work in 2014, the year emergency financial managers took a series of actions that resulted in the city switching its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Gave. A temporary switch promoted as a short-term, cost-saving measure.
The children who sued Lain claimed that the company was professionally negligent in its work in Flint, failing to recommend adding an appropriate corrosion inhibitor to the city’s water and doing so without Flint’s water treatment plant. Not adequately warned of the consequences of the operation.
He claimed that the injuries he suffered as a result of drinking the city’s water included brain damage, a charge challenged by both Lan and Veolia during the first Belvedere trial.
LAN denied the allegations of negligence, arguing that the scope of its work in Flint was limited to design upgrades at the city’s water treatment plant. It maintained that city officials told the company that Flint officials would retain responsibility for water treatment decisions in the areas, including water quality, monitoring and using corrosion control treatments.
The settlement offer was filed under seal by Corey Stern, an attorney for the children, who has declined to comment on the settlement.
Stern’s motion stated that by sealing the settlement, the four children would be protected from exposure to predators, exploitation, undue anger, envy, and public attention, and that the dissemination of information in the settlement and documents There is no compelling public interest. Support it
but do study more The Flint Journal,
Engineering company agrees to settle Flint kids water crisis case
Deadlocked jury heads to mistrial in Flint water crisis civil case
Jury tells judge it’s deadlocked in marathon Flint water crisis civil trial
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