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inanna

(3,547 posts) Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:45 PM Apr 2016

U.S. judge dismisses proposed class action over tainted Flint water

Source: Reuters

Apr 19, 2016 2:09pm EDT

A federal judge in Michigan on Tuesday dismissed one of several proposed class actions by residents of Flint against Governor Rick Snyder and other state and local officials over contamination of the city's water supply.

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.

Attorney Valdemar Washington, who represents the residents in the lawsuit, said they were considering filing an appeal of O'Meara's ruling and also possibly filing similar claims in Genesee County court, the Michigan Court of Claims, or both.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water-lawsuit-idUSKCN0XG2DR

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U.S. judge dismisses proposed class action over tainted Flint water (Original Post) inanna Apr 2016 OP

Don't read too much into this anigbrowl Apr 2016 #1

anigbrowl

(13,889 posts)

1. Don't read too much into this

Reply to inanna (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 03:50 PM

Apr 2016

Large lawsuits often start out with a variety of frustrating disagreements over exactly who has jurisdiction and which body of law should control the outcome. Very interesting for lawyers, but meaningless to almost everyone else. This does NOT mean that the judge doesn't want to help people in Flint, only that the attorneys who filed this particular suit didn't follow the correct procedure. It's very, very common for complex litigation to go through stages like this.

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