The sources told NBC News and NBC station WDIV of Detroit that state Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce criminal charges against two employees of the state Department of Environmental Quality and one who works for the City of Flint. Reuters reported that Attorney Valdemar Washington, who represents the residents in the lawsuit, said they were considering filing an appeal of O’Meara’s…
The sources told NBC News and NBC station WDIV of Detroit that state Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce criminal charges against two employees of the state Department of Environmental Quality and one who works for the City of Flint. Reuters reported that Attorney Valdemar Washington, who represents the residents in the lawsuit, said they were considering filing an appeal of O’Meara’s…
A federal judge may have dealt a serious blow to people suing over the Flint water crisis. U.S. District judge John Corbett O’Meara dismissed the class-action suit after finding the claims made by Flint residents couldn’t be resolved in federal court. At issue are claims made by the plaintiffs in the case that their constitutional rights and state law were…
A class action lawsuit filed in Stephens County seeks restitution for oil lease holders victimized during a conspiracy to rig bids and depress prices for oil and natural gas leaseholds. The petition filed by the Sill Law Group, an Edmond law firm, names Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Chesapeake Exploration L.L.C., Chesapeake Exploration L.P., SandRidge Energy and Tom Ward as defendants who…
Long Beach Middle School parents on Thursday filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the Long Beach school district, alleging physical and sexual abuse of a student with autism by a special education teacher. Attorneys with the Garden City law firm Gerstman Schwartz Malito filed the lawsuit in the Eastern District of U.S. District Court in Central Islip against the district and several…
Update: Calling the charges “deeply troubling” and “extremely serious,” Gov. Rick Snyder said the suspected state officials were suspended without pay. Criminal charges were filed against two officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and one individual from the Flint water treatment plant, the Detroit News reported.…
A federal judge in Seattle has a tentative proposal to set who can join a class action lawsuit in a battle over whether undocumented immigrant children have a right to a lawyer in deportation hearings. U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly issued a court order this week that tentatively proposes that the class action suit includes children under 18 who are in deportation proceedings in the U.S.…
Soon after the switch, the water started to look, smell and taste funny. Residents said it often looked dirty. Though Flint’s water supply is “definitely on its path to recovery,” continued concern among residents about lead contamination and other issues hinders the cleanup of the system’s network of corroded pipes, according to the Virginia Tech researcher who blew open the Michigan city’s…
Gov. Rick Snyder says he visited a Flint home Monday and filled three one-gallon jugs with filtered tap water. (Photo credit Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press)
By Matthew Dolan, Detroit Free Press
The legal reasoning used by a judge to toss a federal lawsuit seeking damages connected to the Flint water crisis may threaten other pending cases, according to a lawyer connected to the case.
The lawsuit’s claims are addressed by federal regulations for safe drinking water, and the plaintiffs can seek relief under state law, U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara ruled. O’Meara found the constitutional violations alleged in the lawsuit stem are covered by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exclusive enforcement authority.…