Correction: Cary McGehee is a woman. A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Cary McGehee as a man. 

A federal judge has dismissed one of the first major class-action lawsuits filed against the state in response to the Flint water crisis.

U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara dismissed the case on Thursday, saying allowing the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed would circumvent the Safe Drinking Water Act’s procedures.

The lawsuit was filed in 2015 by Melissa Mays and several other Flint residents against Gov. Rick Snyder, the city of Flint and other state and city officials involved in making the decision to use water from the corrosive Flint River, which caused high lead levels in the water municipal water system.

The plaintiffs alleged federal constitutional and civil rights violation as well as substantive due process violations.

They also asked for compensatory damages, punitive damages, as well as medical, educational, occupational, and nutritional support for Flint water users.

A similar case with the same lead plaintiff, Melissa Mays, was allowed by the Michigan Court of Claims to proceed there after Judge Mark Boonstra rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

In April 2016, O’Meara dismissed a case similar to the Mays suit, ruling that the federal Safe Drinking Water Act precludes all litigation in federal court involving allegations of unsafe public drinking water unless filed under the act, which only allows injunctive relief to prevent future actions.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Cary McGehee, said she would appeal the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The claims made in Mays’ case were based on the 14th Amendment, equal protection and substantive due process laws, McGehee said Thursday.

“I would say this is a temporary setback. We believe strongly he misapplied the scope of SWDA. Our case is not brought under that act. We feel we will win on appeal and the case will go forward,” McGehee said.

McGehee and her firm has four other cases pending regarding the Flint water crisis. They include a case against the EPA, Snyder and DEQ officials and engineering firms Lan and Veolia.

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